də̇ˈvau̇t, dēˈ-, usu -au̇d.+V adjective
Etymology: Middle English devout, devot, from Old French devot, from Late Latin devotus, from Latin, devoted, past participle of devovēre to devote — more at devote
1. : devoted to religion or to religious feelings, duties, or exercises : given to devotion : pious , reverent , religious
a devout man, and one that feared God — Acts 10: 2 (Authorized Version)
2. : expressing devotion or piety
a devout posture
3. : warmly devoted : hearty , sincere
devout wishes for continued prosperity
Synonyms:
pious , religious , pietistic , sanctimonious ; devout stresses a genuine feeling, a mental or emotional attitude about religion leading to solemn reverence and fitting observance of rites and practices
I was often devout, my eyes filling with tears at the thought of God and for my sins — W.B.Yeats
a devout man, with a childlike trust in God — C.B.Nordhoff & J.N.Hall
pious may suggest faithful and fervent performance of the duties of one's religion rather than inner, genuine feelings or attitudes; it may also be used in connection with hypocrisy
happy, as a pious man is happy when, after a long illness, he goes once more to church — Robert Hichens
were pious Christians, taking their faith devoutly. But such religious emotion as was theirs, was reflected rather than spontaneous — H.O.Taylor
a hypocrite — a thing all pious words and uncharitable deeds — Charles Reade
religious may suggest genuine faith and adherence to a way of life consonant with religion
he was a religious soul rather than a speculative intellect, and he measured all things by the principles of primitive Christianity — V.L.Parrington
but Henry was a simple man, and a religious. On his knees before his confessor, he had learned that God was his friend — Francis Hackett
they are not religious: they are only pew renters — G.B.Shaw
Commonly derogatory, pietistic stresses the emotional or ritualistic rather than the intellectual attitudes on religion and similar matters
an emotional person with pietistic inclinations that nearly carried him over at different times to the Plymouth Brethren, to the Wesleyan Methodists, and to the Countess of Huntingdon's connection — H.G.Wells
his kneeling on a stage, in front of a crowded house, as was recorded in the press, to receive the blessing of a visiting cardinal, was, to Sean, a humiliating thing for the head of a republican state to do. The pietistic Spaniard in him, Sean thought — Sean O'Casey
sanctimonious now always implies pretension to or appearance of exaltedness, or some other hypocrisy
better in appearance anyway than that sanctimonious fellow, the missionary, who had passed straight from world service to one of the more exclusive tribes in the Congo — Ellen Glasgow
if it only takes some of the sanctimonious conceit out of one of those pious scalawags — Robert Frost