piety
noun/ˈpaɪ̯ɪti/ · [ˈpʰaɪ̯ɪtʰɪi̯]
Etymology From Middle English piete, borrowed from Middle French pieté, from Latin pietās. See also the doublets pietà and pity. By surface analysis, pious + -ety.
1
Lifestyle, Religion Reverence and devotion to God.
- Colleen's piety led her to make sacrifices that most people would not have made.
2
Similar reverence to one's parents and family or to one's country.
- patriotism as piety, when done right
3
A devout or otherwise laudable act, thought, or statement.
- Those who dwell outside of Western Establishment bastions are not idiots just because they do not mouth the pieties of GASP. Some of them can write very well. There are other traditions, you know. They could write for Wikipedia, if you let them. But such true openness and genuine tolerance is unacceptable, precisely because those other traditions fail to pay exclusive homage to GASP sources, through which—Wikipedians imagine—all the benefits of global civilization flow.2025 September 30, Larry Sanger, “2. Enable competing articles.”, in larrysanger.org:
4
A platitude that may be empty or at least facile and undercommitted.
- He was quick with the pieties about hard work, honest communication, active listening, and respecting others' viewpoints, but walking the walk is different from talking the talk.
- Derived terms
- baroque piety, filial piety, in piety, pietism, pietist, unpiety