worship

See also: Worship

English

Alternative forms

• wurship (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English worschippe, worthschipe, from Old English weorþscipe, corresponding to worth (“worthy, honorable”) +‎ -ship. Cognate with Scots worschip (“worship”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈwɜːʃɪp/, /ˈwɔːʃɪp/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈwɝʃɪp/, /ˈwɔɹʃɪp/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

worship (usually uncountable, plural worships)

1. (obsolete) The condition of being worthy; honour, distinction.
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter xxiij, in Le Morte Darthur, book I:

     I will be on horsbak said the knyght / thenne was Arthur wrothe and dressid his sheld toward hym with his swerd drawen / whan the knyght sawe that / he a lyghte / for hym thought no worship to haue a knyght at suche auaille he to be on horsbak and he on foot and so he alyght & dressid his sheld vnto Arthur

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.3:

     Then he forth on his journey did proceede, / To seeke adventures which mote him befall, / And win him worship through his warlike deed […].

2. The devotion accorded to a deity or to a sacred object.
3. The religious ceremonies that express this devotion.
   • John Tillotson (1630-1694)

     The worship of God is an eminent part of religion, and prayer is a chief part of religious worship.

4. (by extension) Ardent love.
5. An object of worship.
   • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)

     In attitude and aspect formed to be / At once the artist's worship and despair.

6. Honour; respect; civil deference.
   • Edmund Spenser (c.1552–1599)

     of which great worth and worship may be won

   • Bible, Luke xiv. 10

     Then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee.

Synonyms

• adoration
• reverence
• idolatry

Derived terms

Terms derived from worship

• freedom of worship
• Her Worship
• His Worship
• house of worship
• place of worship
• sun worshipper
• Worship

• worshipability
• worshipable
• worshipper / worshiper
• worshipful
• Worshipful Master
• worshipfully
• worshipfulness

• worshipped
• worshipping
• worshippingly
• worshipworthy
• Your Worship

Translations

devotion accorded to a deity or to a sacred object

• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: պաշտամունք (hy) (paštamunkʿ), երկրպագություն (hy) (erkrpagutʿyun)

  Old Armenian: պաշտօն (paštōn)

• Burmese: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: adoració f, culte (ca) m, veneració f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 崇拜 (zh) (chóngbài), 禮拜 (zh), 礼拜 (zh) (lǐbài), 敬拜 (zh) (jìngbaì)

• Czech: uctívání n
• Dutch: verering (nl) f, aanbidding (nl) f
• Esperanto: kulto, adoro, adorado
• Finnish: palvonta (fi)
• French: culte (fr) m, adoration (fr), vénération (fr)
• Galician: adoración (gl) f
• Georgian: თაყვანისცემა (taq̇vaniscema)
• German: Verehrung (de) f, Anbetung (de) f
• Greek: λατρεία (el) f (latreía)

  Ancient Greek: λατρεία f (latreía)

• Hebrew: סגידה‎‎ f (sgidá)
• Hungarian: imádat, tisztelet (hu)
• Italian: adorazione (it) f, venerazione (it) f, culto (it) m
• Japanese: 礼拝 (れいはい, reihai)

• Khmer: ការគោរពបូជា (kaa koorup boo cie), សក្ការៈ (km) (sɑɑkkaarĕəʾ)
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Kurdish:

  Kurmanji: peristin (ku) f

  Sorani: پەرستن‎‎ (peristin)

• Lao: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: adoratio f
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: kult (pl) m
• Portuguese: adoração (pt) f, cultuação f, culto (pt) m
• Russian: поклоне́ние (ru) n (poklonénije), почита́ние (ru) n (počitánije), боготворе́ние n (bogotvorénije), благогове́ние (ru) n (blagogovénije)
• Scottish Gaelic: adhradh m
• Spanish: adoración (es) f
• Swahili: ibada (sw)
• Swedish: dyrkan (sv)
• Telugu: ఉపాసన (te) (upāsana)
• Thai: บูชา (th) (buu-chaa)
• Tibetan: སྐུ་རིམ (sku rim), གུས་པའི་ཞབས་ཏོག (gus pa'i zhabs tog), གུས་ཞབས (gus zhabs), མཆོད་པར་བྱེད (mchod par byed), བསྙེན་བཀུར (bsnyen bkur), རིམ་གྲོ (rim gro)
• Turkish: ibadet (tr), tapınma (tr)
• Urdu: پوجا‎‎ f (pūjā), عبادت‎‎ f ('ibādat), پرستش‎‎ f (parastiś)
• Uyghur: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

the religious ceremonies that express this devotion

• Catalan: culte (ca) m
• Czech: bohoslužba (cs) f
• Esperanto: kulto, adorado
• Finnish: jumalanpalvelus (fi), palvontamenot pl
• French: culte (fr) m
• German: Gottesdienst (de) m, Verehrung (de) f, Anbetung (de) f
• Greek: λατρεία (el) f (latreía)

  Ancient Greek: λατρεία f (latreía)

• Hebrew: עבודת האל‎‎ f (avodát haél), עבודה‎‎ (he) f (avodá)
• Italian: culto (it) m

• Nogai: ибаьдет (ibädet)
• Polish: uwielbiene n, adoracja (pl) f
• Portuguese: culto (pt) m
• Russian: богослуже́ние (ru) n (bogoslužénije)
• Scottish Gaelic: adhradh m
• Swahili: ibada (sw)
• Swedish: tillbedjan c
• Turkish: ibadet (tr), tapınma (tr)
• Urdu: پوجا‎‎ f (pūjā)

the ardent love of a person

• Catalan: adoració f
• Esperanto: adorado, adoro
• Finnish: palvonta (fi)
• French: culte (fr) m
• German: Verehrung (de) f, Anbetung (de) f
• Greek: λατρεία (el) f (latreía)

• Hebrew: הערצה‎‎ (he) f (haaratsá)
• Italian: culto (it) m, venerazione (it) f, adorazione (it) f, ardore (it) m
• Portuguese: adoração (pt) f
• Russian: обожа́ние (ru) n (obožánije), почита́ние (ru) n (počitánije), боготворе́ние n (bogotvorénije)
• Swedish: dyrkan (sv) c
• Turkish: tapma (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Arabic: ^{(please verify)} عِبَادَة‎‎ f (ʿibāda)
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} culto (it) m
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 우러르다 (ureoreuda), ^{(please verify)} 숭배하다 (ko) (sungbaehada)
• Kurdish: ^{(please verify)} perestîş (ku) f

• Slovak: ^{(please verify)} uctievanie n
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} culto (es) m, ^{(please verify)} alabanza (es) f
• Turkish: ^{(please verify)} ibadet (tr), ^{(please verify)} tapınma (tr)

Verb

worship (third-person singular simple present worships, present participle (UK) worshipping or (US) worshiping, simple past and past participle (UK) worshipped or (US) worshiped)

1. (transitive) To reverence (a deity, etc.) with supreme respect and veneration; to perform religious exercises in honour of.
   • Shakespeare

     God is to be worshipped.

   • Milton

     When all our fathers worshipped stocks and stones.

2. (transitive) To honour with extravagant love and extreme submission, as a lover; to adore; to idolize.
   • 1934, Agatha Christie, chapter 8, in Murder on the Orient Express, London: HarperCollins, published 2017, page 251:

     'All the household worshipped her.'

   • Carew

     With bended knees I daily worship her.

3. (intransitive) To participate in religious ceremonies.

   We worship at the church down the road.

Translations

to honor and adore, especially as a deity

• Arabic: عَبَدَ‎‎ (ar) (ʿabada), سَجَدَ‎‎ (ar) (sajada)
• Armenian: պաշտել (hy) (paštel), երկրպագել (hy) (erkrpagel)
• Bashkir: please add this translation if you can
• Bengali: পূজা করা (puja kôra)
• Catalan: adorar (ca), venerar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 崇拜 (zh) (chóngbài), 禮拜 (zh), 礼拜 (zh) (lǐbài), 敬拜 (zh) (jìngbaì), 崇奉 (zh) (chóngfèng)

• Czech: uctívat
• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: vereren (nl), aanbidden (nl)
• Esperanto: kulti, adori
• Estonian: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: palvoa (fi)
• French: vénérer (fr), adorer (fr)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: verehren (de), anbeten (de)
• Greek: λατρεύω (el) (latrévo)

  Ancient: σέβομαι (sébomai)

• Gujarati: please add this translation if you can
• Haitian Creole: adore
• Hebrew: סגד‎‎ (sagád)
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: imád (hu)
• Italian: adorare (it), venerare (it), deificare
• Japanese: 崇拝する (ja) (すうはいする, sūhai surú)
• Javanese: please add this translation if you can
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can

• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Kurdish:

  Kurmanji: peristin (ku)

  Sorani: پەرستن‎‎ (peristin)

• Lao: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: venero (la), adoro (la), apprecor, colō
• Ligurian: please add this translation if you can
• Maore Comorian: uãɓudu (uãbudu)
• Maori: koropiko
• Persian: پرستیدن‎‎ (fa)
• Polish: czcić (pl)
• Portuguese: adorar (pt), venerar (pt), cultuar (pt)
• Romanian: închina (ro)
• Russian: поклоня́ться (ru) impf (poklonjátʹsja) (+ dative case), почита́ть (ru) impf (počitátʹ), боготвори́ть (ru) impf (bogotvorítʹ), благогове́ть (ru) impf (blagogovétʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: славити, обожавати

  Roman: slaviti (sh), obožavati (sh)

• Spanish: adorar (es)
• Swedish: dyrka (sv), tillbe (sv)
• Telugu: ఉపాసించు (te) (upāsiñcu)
• Thai: บูชา (th) (buu-chaa)
• Turkish: tapmak (tr), tapınmak (tr)
• Uzbek: topinmoq (uz)
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: addoli (cy)
• Yiddish: please add this translation if you can

to participate in religious ceremonies

• Arabic: سَجَدَ‎‎ (ar) (sajada)
• Hebrew: עבד לאל‎‎ (avád laél), עבד ל...‎‎ (avád l...)
• Italian: celebrare (it)

• Scottish Gaelic: dèan adhradh
• Swahili: abudu (sw)
• Turkish: ibadet etmek (tr), tapınmak (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} aanbidden (nl)
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} adorare (it)

• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} adorar (es), ^{(please verify)} venerar (es), ^{(please verify)} alabar (es)
• Turkish: ^{(please verify)} ibadet etmek, tapınmak