ˈpīəd.ē, -ətē, -i noun
( -es )
Etymology: French pieté piety, pity, from Latin pietat-, pietas, from pius dutiful, kindly — more at pious
1. : the quality or state of being pious: as
a. : fidelity to natural obligations : devoted loyalty to parents, family, or race
b. : dutifulness in religion : habitual reverence for God or accepted deities : zeal in religious service or worship : devoutness
a man noted for his piety and devotion to the Church — R.P.Casey
c. : religious simplicity and devotion : pietism
was sympathetic to the piety of the revivalists — J.C.Brauer
2. : an act inspired by piety : an instance of devotion
the pieties of a simple life justly and charitably lived
3. : the moral or spiritual resources of an individual or a group
has achieved the broadest, most harmonious synthesis of living writers, but only after a drastic cross-examination of his deepest pieties — H.J.Muller
4. : a conventional belief or standard : orthodoxy , sanction
massed social pieties … were invested in the established economic order — David Riesman
Synonyms: see fidelity