devout

What it means

1. Devoted to religion or to religious feelings and duties; pious; extremely religious; godly.

   a devout man, and one that feared God

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 10:2

   3 more examples

   We must be constant and devout in the worship of our God.

   a. 1729, John Rogers, The Difficulties of Obtaining Salvation

   I first became aware of changing Hui-Han social dynamics in the village from a discussion with one of the Han villagers in Team 1. She explained: “Since 1979, we have had less and less social contact with the Hui in the other teams. There are no problems between us, but the Hui are more devout [qian-cheng] now and less willing to come to our homes and visit or borrow tools. We raise pigs in our yards and eat pork, so they are afraid it will influence their religion [yingxiang tamende jiaomen]."

   2002, Dru C. Gladney, “Ethnoreligious Resurgence in a Northwestern Sufi Community”, in Susan D. Blum, Lionel M. Jensen, editors, China Off Center: Mapping the Margins of the Middle Kingdom, Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 109

   The question, which visibly moved Clinton, delves into an area of the candidate’s life that is deeply personal but rarely discussed. Clinton’s friends and confidants describe the former first lady as a devout Methodist whose faith guides much of what she does.

   2016 January 25, Dan Merica, “In personal exchange, Clinton laments using faith to ‘judge so harshly’”, in CNN, archived from the original on 06 Sep 2022

   Synonyms: devoutful, godfearing, heavenly-minded

2. archaicExpressing devotion or piety.

   devout sighs; devout eyes; a devout posture

3. Warmly devoted; hearty; sincere; earnest.

   devout wishes for one's welfare

In a sentence

a devout man, and one that feared God

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 10:2

Where it comes from

1. Proto-Indo-European*de
2. Proto-Indo-European*déh₁
3. Proto-Italic*dē
4. Latindē
5. Latindē-
6. Proto-Indo-European*h₁wegʷʰ-
7. Proto-Indo-European*h₁wogʷʰéyeti
8. Proto-Italic*woɣʷeō
9. Latinvoveō
10. Latindēvoveō
11. Ecclesiastical Latindēvōtu
12. Old Frenchdevot
13. Middle Englishdevout
14. Englishdevout

Inherited from Middle English devout. From Middle English devout, devot, from Old French devot (French dévot), from Latin dēvōtus, perfect passive participle of dēvōveō. Doublet of devote.