worshipful

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   Tending to worship

   Tending to worship; showing reverence.

2. 2

   Entitled to dignity or respect

   Entitled to dignity or respect; distinguished, respected, illustrious.

   • [H]owe Dorbell comes to bee doctour none aſks, but doctour hee muſt bee to make him right worſhipfull.
3. 3

   Used as respectful form of address or honorific title for a person or body of persons,…

   Used as respectful form of address or honorific title for a person or body of persons, now especially in the name of a livery company.

   • To my most dredfull and Sovereigne lige Lord, I youre humble lige beseche to yowre Hyness to have in remembrance my comyng to yowre worshipful presence into York of my free will, […]
4. ›+ 3 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      Worthy of worship.

      • But the Stoics and the poet Virgil came near to the Christian belief that God is light, and everlasting light. And is not light also ‘mystery’? Yes, unfathomable, worshipful! Lumen adorabile!
      • The worshipful, then, whatever else it may be, is something mysterious and supernatural. But of course the converse is not true. What is mysterious or supernatural need not be worshipful.
   2. 5

      One who is respected or distinguished.

      • Damn the worshipful lady, and all other worshipfuls! There’ll be no more worshipfuls here! I’ll give way to no one before my own shop!
      • Again there are too many lawyers and doctors and priests and elders and bishops and cardinals and worshipfuls, and we shall now proclaim that the time has come for the wise to cast these idols to the moles and bats, […]
   3. 6

      A magistrate (specifically).

The neighborhood

• synonymrespectful
• synonymreverent
• synonymreverential
• synonymworshippy
• antonymirreverent
• antonymunworshipful
• neighborworship
• neighborworshipper