Library / English Dictionary

WORSHIP

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected forms: worshipped    , worshipping   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The activity of worshipping

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("worship" is a kind of...):

activity (any specific behavior)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "worship"):

praise (offering words of homage as an act of worship)

salaah; salaat; salah; salat (the second pillar of Islam is prayer; a prescribed liturgy performed five times a day (preferably in a mosque) and oriented toward Mecca)

moon-worship; selenolatry (the worship of the moon)

monolatry (the worship of a single god but without claiming that it is the only god)

animal-worship; zoolatry (the worship of animals)

heliolatry; sun-worship (the worship of the sun)

hagiolatry; hierolatry (the worship of saints)

fire-worship; pyrolatry (the worship of fire)

demonolatry; devil-worship; diabolatry (the acts or rites of worshiping devils)

cosmolatry (the worship of the cosmos)

astrolatry; worship of heavenly bodies (the worship of planets or stars)

arborolatry; tree-worship (the worship of trees)

place-worship; topolatry (the worship of places)

miracle-worship; thaumatolatry (the worship of miracles)

lordolatry (the worship of a lord because of his rank or title)

gynaeolatry; gyneolatry; woman-worship (the worship of women)

anthropolatry; worship of man (the worship of human beings)

autolatry; idiolatry; self-worship (the worship of yourself)

cultism; devotion; veneration (religious zeal; the willingness to serve God)

idol worship; idolatry (the worship of idols; the worship of physical objects or images as gods)

adoration; latria (the worship given to God alone)

idolisation; idolization (the act of worshiping blindly and to excess)

prayer; supplication (the act of communicating with a deity (especially as a petition or in adoration or contrition or thanksgiving))

ancestor worship (worship of ancestors)

apotheosis; deification; exaltation (the elevation of a person (as to the status of a god))

Derivation:

worship (attend religious services)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A feeling of profound love and admiration

Synonyms:

adoration; worship

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Hypernyms ("worship" is a kind of...):

love (a strong positive emotion of regard and affection)

Derivation:

worship (love unquestioningly and uncritically or to excess; venerate as an idol)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Love unquestioningly and uncritically or to excess; venerate as an idol

Example:

Many teenagers idolized the Beatles

Synonyms:

hero-worship; idolise; idolize; revere; worship

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "worship" is one way to...):

adore (love intensely)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "worship"):

drool over; slobber over (envy without restraint)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Sentence example:

Sam cannot worship Sue

Derivation:

worship (a feeling of profound love and admiration)

worshiper; worshipper (someone who admires too much to recognize faults)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Show devotion to (a deity)

Example:

Many Hindus worship Shiva

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "worship" is one way to...):

fear; revere; reverence; venerate (regard with feelings of respect and reverence; consider hallowed or exalted or be in awe of)

Domain category:

faith; religion; religious belief (a strong belief in a supernatural power or powers that control human destiny)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

worshiper; worshipper (a person who has religious faith)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Attend religious services

Example:

They worship in the traditional manner

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "worship" is one way to...):

attend; go to (be present at (meetings, church services, university), etc.)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "worship"):

offer; offer up (present as an act of worship)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

worship (the activity of worshipping)

worshiper; worshipper (a person who has religious faith)

Credits

 Context examples: 

“It is a shrine of Our Lady,” said Terlake, “and a blind beggar who lives by the alms of those who worship there.”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Mr. Knightley, always so kind, so feeling, so truly considerate for every body, would never deserve to be less worshipped than now; and it really was too much to hope even of Harriet, that she could be in love with more than three men in one year.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

He put this engine into our ears, which made an incessant noise, like that of a water-mill: and we conjecture it is either some unknown animal, or the god that he worships; but we are more inclined to the latter opinion, because he assured us, (if we understood him right, for he expressed himself very imperfectly) that he seldom did any thing without consulting it.

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

These are the sort of men that a woman could worship with all her soul, and yet be the greater, not the less, on account of her love, honored by all the world as the inspirer of noble deeds.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

As for Colonel Brandon, she was not only ready to worship him as a saint, but was moreover truly anxious that he should be treated as one in all worldly concerns; anxious that his tithes should be raised to the utmost; and scarcely resolved to avail herself, at Delaford, as far as she possibly could, of his servants, his carriage, his cows, and his poultry.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

There was a show of gratitude and worship in his attachment to my mother, differing wholly from the doting fondness of age, for it was inspired by reverence for her virtues and a desire to be the means of, in some degree, recompensing her for the sorrows she had endured, but which gave inexpressible grace to his behaviour to her.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

A job was to them a golden fetich before which they fell down and worshipped.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

I saw a little apothecary there—surgeon, or whatever he is—who brought your worship into the world.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

And you girls probably worshipped him, as a convent full of religieuses would worship their director.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

But there came a time when Laurie ceased to worship at many shrines, hinted darkly at one all-absorbing passion, and indulged occasionally in Byronic fits of gloom.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)