What does reverence mean?
Word: Reverence
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Reverence means deep respect and admiration for someone or something.
Synonyms: respect, admiration, devotion, awe
Antonyms: disrespect, scorn
How do you spell reverence?
Syllables: rev - er - ence
Tricky part: The ending is ence, not ance, and every vowel in the word is an e. Students write reverance or squeeze out the middle e.
Watch out for: reverance, revrence, reverense
Memory tip: Every vowel is e, like a row of matching beads on a thread, with no a or i anywhere among them.
Reverence in a sentence
Example 1: Our grandparents talk about the freedom fighters with reverence.
Example 2: We stood in reverence as the national anthem was played.
Example 3: The family greeted their grandmother with reverence on her ninetieth birthday.
Fun Fact
Reverence comes from the Latin revereri, meaning to stand in awe of someone or something.
Practise the CREST Way
Spell-o-Spell
Three of these words are spelt correctly. Choose the meaning of the misspelt word:
1. reverence 2. humility 3. solemnaty 4. loyalty
a) not thinking you are better than others
b) deep respect felt for someone wise or great
c) a serious and dignified manner
d) staying faithful to a person or cause
Show answer
b) deep respect felt for someone wise or great. Word 3 has an a where an i should be; reverence, humility and loyalty are correct.
Word Connection
Choose the antonym of the word reverence as used in the sentence:
The students gazed with reverence at the ancient banyan tree.
a) curiosity
b) contempt
c) silence
d) surprise
Show answer
b) contempt. Contempt is looking down on something, the reverse of gazing at it in awe.
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
reverrence
a) e
b) n
c) v
d) r
Show answer
d) r. Two r's stand together in the middle; one of them is not needed.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the letters in the sentence to form a meaningful word:
The villagers speak of the old headmaster with great ncreeveer.
a) reverence
b) deference
c) severance
d) reference
Show answer
a) reverence. Reference and deference have an f where the jumble has a v, and severance needs an s and an a.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Speaking of someone with reverence means speaking with ____.
a) loud and open anger
b) mild and polite boredom
c) quick and clever jokes
d) high honour and regard
Show answer
d) high honour and regard
2. A person who treats old books with reverence would most likely ____.
a) use them to prop open a door
b) leave them out in the rain
c) turn the pages with great care
d) fold the corners to mark places
Show answer
c) turn the pages with great care
