veneration means the act of venerating or the state of being venerated. It carries an Arena rating of 1507, earned across 6 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, veneration ranks #2,528 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #3,183 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words, #3,405 of 17,130 for Most Beautiful Words, #3,746 of 17,135 for Most Malleable Words.
veneration is pronounced /ˌvɛnəˈɹeɪʃən/.
Why “veneration” is a great word
Veneration is the act of showing profound reverence, respect, or awe, especially toward a person or object of religious or secular esteem. From Middle French vénération, from Old French veneracion, from Latin veneratio ('the act of revering'), from venerari ('to reverence, worship'), from venus ('charm, love, beauty'), the name of the Roman goddess of love. Unlike worship, which implies adoration directed toward a deity, or admiration, which suggests warm approval for an achievement, veneration is a solemn, almost architectural respect built over time. It is the hush before a reliquary, the bowed head before a founder's statue, and the careful preservation of a grandparent's handwritten letters—the quiet, human impulse to hold something apart, to declare that some beauty, some virtue, is not to be touched, only approached.
Etymology
From Middle French vénération, from Old French veneracion, from Latin veneratio.
noun
- The act of venerating or the state of being venerated.
- Profound reverence, respect or awe.e.g.“In Miss Jemima's eyes an autograph letter of her sister, Miss Pinkerton, was an object of as deep veneration as would have been a letter from a sovereign.” — 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, “Chiswick Mall”, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC, page 2:
- Religious zeal, idolatry or devotion.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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