devout

D2E1V4O1U1T1
/dɪˈvaʊt/Canada/dəˈvʌʊt/

adjective

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

“devout wishes for one's welfare”

Meanings

adjectivedevout (comparative devouter or more devout, superlative devoutest or most devout)

comparative devouter · comparative more devout · superlative devoutest · superlative most devout

  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

noundevout (plural devouts)

plural devouts

  1. obsoleteA devotee.
  2. obsoleteA devotional composition, or part of a composition; a devotion.

Synonyms & antonyms

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

More synonyms by meaning

adjectivedeeply religious

adjectivesincerely earnest

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  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.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Ancient Greek εὐσεβής
  • εὐσεβής (eusebḗs)devoted to religion or to religious feelings and duties
Arabic مُتَدَيِّن
  • مُتَدَيِّن (mutadayyin)devoted to religion or to religious feelings and duties
Bengali আবেদ
  • আবেদ (abed)devoted to religion or to religious feelings and duties
Bulgarian набожен, вярващ
  • набожен (nabožen)devoted to religion or to religious feelings and duties
  • вярващ (vjarvašt)devoted to religion or to religious feelings and duties
  • благочестив (blagočestiv)devoted to religion or to religious feelings and duties
Catalan devot
  • devotdevoted to religion or to religious feelings and duties
Chinese Mandarin 虔誠的 /虔诚的, 虔敬的
  • 虔誠的 /虔诚的 (qiánchéng de)devoted to religion or to religious feelings and duties
  • 虔敬的 (qiánjìng de)devoted to religion or to religious feelings and duties
Czech nábožný
  • nábožnýdevoted to religion or to religious feelings and duties
Danish from
  • fromdevoted to religion or to religious feelings and duties
Dutch vroom
  • vroomdevoted to religion or to religious feelings and duties
Esperanto pia
  • piadevoted to religion or to religious feelings and duties
Finnish harras
  • harrasdevoted to religion or to religious feelings and duties
German tiefgläubig, andächtig
  • tiefgläubigdevoted to religion or to religious feelings and duties
  • andächtigdevoted to religion or to religious feelings and duties
  • strenggläubigdevoted to religion or to religious feelings and duties
  • frommdevoted to religion or to religious feelings and duties
  • gläubigdevoted to religion or to religious feelings and duties
Greek ευσεβής
  • ευσεβής (efsevís)devoted to religion or to religious feelings and duties
Hindi धर्मनिष्ठ
  • धर्मनिष्ठ (dharmaniṣṭh)devoted to religion or to religious feelings and duties
Hungarian vallásos, ájtatos
  • vallásosdevoted to religion or to religious feelings and duties
  • ájtatosdevoted to religion or to religious feelings and duties
  • istenfélődevoted to religion or to religious feelings and duties
Irish urnaitheach, cráifeach
  • urnaitheachdevoted to religion or to religious feelings and duties
  • cráifeachdevoted to religion or to religious feelings and duties
  • diagantadevoted to religion or to religious feelings and duties
Italian devoto
  • devotodevoted to religion or to religious feelings and duties
Japanese 敬虔な
  • 敬虔な (kēken na)devoted to religion or to religious feelings and duties
Latin pius
  • piusdevoted to religion or to religious feelings and duties
Norwegian from
  • fromdevoted to religion or to religious feelings and duties
Polish pobożny, nabożny
  • pobożnydevoted to religion or to religious feelings and duties
  • nabożnydevoted to religion or to religious feelings and duties
Portuguese devoto
  • devotodevoted to religion or to religious feelings and duties
Russian на́божный
  • на́божный (nábožnyj)devoted to religion or to religious feelings and duties
Scottish Gaelic cràbhach
  • cràbhachdevoted to religion or to religious feelings and duties
Spanish devoto
  • devotodevoted to religion or to religious feelings and duties
Ukrainian побо́жний, набо́жний
  • побо́жний (pobóžnyj)devoted to religion or to religious feelings and duties
  • набо́жний (nabóžnyj)devoted to religion or to religious feelings and duties

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with devout

All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

devout. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/devout

MLA

“devout.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/devout. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “devout,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/devout.

Source: devout on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.