DEVOUT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does devout mean? 

• DEVOUT (adjective)
  The adjective DEVOUT has 2 senses:

1. deeply religious

2. sincerely earnest

  Familiarity information: DEVOUT used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DEVOUT (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Deeply religious

Synonyms:

devout; god-fearing

Context example:

a god-fearing and law-abiding people

Similar:

religious (having or showing belief in and reverence for a deity)

Derivation:

devoutness (piety by virtue of being devout)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Sincerely earnest

Synonyms:

dear; devout; earnest; heartfelt

Context example:

heartfelt condolences

Similar:

sincere (open and genuine; not deceitful)

 Context examples 

I've got them all, thank God, and am the happiest woman in the world, and Meg laid her hand on her tall boy's head, with a face full of tender and devout content.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

A holy and devout young man.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But this description, I confess, does by no means affect the British nation, who may be an example to the whole world for their wisdom, care, and justice in planting colonies; their liberal endowments for the advancement of religion and learning; their choice of devout and able pastors to propagate Christianity; their caution in stocking their provinces with people of sober lives and conversations from this the mother kingdom; their strict regard to the distribution of justice, in supplying the civil administration through all their colonies with officers of the greatest abilities, utter strangers to corruption; and, to crown all, by sending the most vigilant and virtuous governors, who have no other views than the happiness of the people over whom they preside, and the honour of the king their master.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)