reverentiallyadv.
/ˌrɛvəˈrɛnʃl̩i/, /ˌrɛvəˈrɛnʃəli/, U.S. /ˌrɛvəˈrɛn(t)ʃəli/ In a reverential manner; reverently.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > respect > reverence > [adverb]
worthlyOE
reverentlya1382
worthilyc1400
worshippinglyc1475
reverendlyc1480
venerablyc1610
reverentially1644
worshipfully1863
veneratinglyc1925
society > faith > worship > [adverb]
reverentlya1382
reverendlyc1480
devotionally1668
reverentially1834
doxologically1891
1644 J. Bewick Confiding Eng. under Confl. 10 God will save his people by terrible things: because he will shew to all the world, how terrible a God he is, whom his people so dreadfully and reverentially adore.
1657 G. Thornley tr. Longus Daphnis & Chloe 50 They would sit down by them reverentially in the Cave.
1664 H. More Modest Enq. Myst. Iniquity viii. 24 Thus royally adorning and reverentially courting his Ape.
a1751 Visct. Bolingbroke Wks. (1754) III. 459 He [sc. Plato] made the system..as absurdly as many others, but more reverentially toward the supreme Being.
1784 H. Thrale Thraliana 23 May (1942) i. 593 Dear Burney who loves me kindly, but the world reverentially, was I believe equally pained as delighted with my visit.
1834 L. Ritchie Wanderings by Seine 110 If the traveller is a Protestant, let him bend his head reverentially.
1881 Macmillan's Mag. 45 114/1 Not a voice but spoke lovingly and reverentially of him.
1941 J. Agee & W. Evans Let us now praise Famous Men 137 It is not entirely otherwise now..the nakedness of this body which sleeps here before me, this tabernacle upon whose desecration I so reverentially proceed.
1972 Times 23 Oct. 6/1 The subjects are treated respectfully, almost reverentially at times.
2004 New Yorker 19 Apr. 189/1 Alan Dundes is a folklorist at the University of California at Berkeley, reverentially known there as the ‘Joke Professor’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adv.1644