piousadj.

Brit.

/ˈpʌɪəs/, U.S.

/ˈpaɪəs/

Forms: late Middle English piouse, 1500s– pious, 1600s pioust, 1700s–1800s pyehouse (humorous and regional); Scottish pre-1700 piouse, pre-1700 pyous, pre-1700 1700s– pious, 1800s peeous, 1900s– poious.

Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French, combined with an English element; perhaps modelled on a French lexical item. Partly a borrowing from Latin, combined with an English element; perhaps modelled on a French lexical item. Etymons: French piu , pius , -ous suffix; Latin pius , -ous suffix.

Etymology: < Anglo-Norman piu, pi, etc. and Middle French pius (end of 10th cent. in Old French) and its etymon classical Latin pius dutiful, pious, devout (cognate with Oscan piíhiúí , Umbrian pihaz ; perhaps related to classical Latin pūrus pure adj.) + -ous suffix, perhaps after Middle French pieux (1st quarter of 15th cent.; compare Old French pieus, pious; French pieux). Compare Old Occitan pis, piu ( c1070), Catalan (rare) pio (1560), Spanish pío (late 14th cent.), Italian pio (1255 or earlier).

a. Of an action, thought, resolve, etc.: characterized by, expressing, or resulting from true reverence and obedience to God; devout, religious.Sometimes in ironic use, passing into sense 5.

ΘΚΠ

society > faith > aspects of faith > piety > [adjective]

GodfrightOE

goodOE

ghostlyOE

Godfrightya1225

seelya1225

devout?c1225

piteousc1300

spiritualc1384

graciousa1387

godlyc1390

pitifulc1449

inwardc1450

piousc1450

evangelica1475

servantly1503

obedientiala1513

Christian1526

well-believing1529

God-fearing1548

resigneda1555

heavenly minded1569

timorate1570

Godfull1593

pious1595

fearful1597

devoutful1598

devotea1625

serious1684

unctuous1742

theopathetic1749

fire-spirited1845

theopathic1846

unctional1849

interior1854

devotionate1864

sacramental1874

pi1891

c1450 in H. Anstey Epistolae Academicae Oxon. (1898) I. 294 (MED) Oure seide Universith..prayth ȝow devotly to excepte colleges of þe same Universyth, of piouse intencione to þe worshyp of god, and encrese of holy fayth.

1599 R. Parsons Temperate Ward-word vi. 86 The course which they haue hitherto held is most honorable and pious before God and man.

1604 W. Shakespeare Hamlet iii. i. 50 Tis too much proou'd, that with deuotions visage And pious action, we doe sugar ore The deuill himselfe.

1628 G. Wither Britain's Remembrancer 200 Those thy gifts that cary The pioust showes have scarce been voluntary.

1677 A. Marvell Acct. Growth Popery 11 That so great a part of the Land should be alienated..to, as they call it, Pious Uses.

1746 T. Morell Judas Maccabæus (Air) Pious orgies, pious airs, Decent sorrow, decent prayers, Will to the Lord ascend.

1753 J. Hanway Hist. Acct. Brit. Trade Caspian Sea II. iii. xxvii. 170 They modulate their voices to a tone consistent with pious thoughts.

1781 G. Crabbe Library 24 Old pious tracts, and Bibles bound in wood.

1810 W. Wordsworth Prose Wks. (1876) II. 33 The sensations of pious cheerfulness, which attend the celebration of the sabbath-day in rural places.

1874 J. Sully Sensation & Intuition 116 Pious attempts to coerce belief.

1949 E. Waugh Let. 9 Nov. (1980) 312 I made a pious resolution that for a year I would do everything I was asked to do by Catholic bodies.

1997 Times 1 Sept. 25/2 Although not pious, her conduct deserves to be called Christian.

b. Of a person: having or showing reverence and obedience to God; faithful to religious duties and observances; devout, godly, religious.

ΘΚΠ

society > faith > aspects of faith > piety > [adjective]

GodfrightOE

goodOE

ghostlyOE

Godfrightya1225

seelya1225

devout?c1225

piteousc1300

spiritualc1384

graciousa1387

godlyc1390

pitifulc1449

inwardc1450

piousc1450

evangelica1475

servantly1503

obedientiala1513

Christian1526

well-believing1529

God-fearing1548

resigneda1555

heavenly minded1569

timorate1570

Godfull1593

pious1595

fearful1597

devoutful1598

devotea1625

serious1684

unctuous1742

theopathetic1749

fire-spirited1845

theopathic1846

unctional1849

interior1854

devotionate1864

sacramental1874

pi1891

1595 W. Allen et al. Conf. Next Succession Crowne of Ingland i. iii. 42 He ordained a mynt with a peculier forme of money to be stamped..& other like acts of a prudent and pious Prince.

1612 J. Davies Muses Sacrifice 96 Then pious men, still praying in their Cell, doe take for Heau'n; for, That the Sp'rit delights.

1628 G. Wither Britain's Remembrancer 8 For we doe reade, that Kings who pioust were Had wicked subjects.

1697 J. Woodward Acct. Relig. Societies London in Earnest Admon. Young Persons 225 That an Orthodox and pious Minister should be chosen by each Society, as the Director and Visiter of it.

a1715 Bp. G. Burnet Hist. Own Time (1734) II. 27 Mackay..was the piousest man I ever knew.

1791 J. Boswell Life Johnson anno 1763 I. 226 [Johnson:] Campbell is a good man, a pious man... He never passes a church without pulling off his hat.

1839 C. Dickens Nicholas Nickleby iv. 26 I asked one of your references, and he said you were pious.

1860 R. W. Emerson Fate in Conduct of Life (London ed.) 27 What pious men in the parlour will vote for what reprobates at the polls!

1920 Glasgow Herald 14 May 9 The well-intentioned proposals of certain pious Churchmen.

1993 Latin Mass (Special ed.) 23/1 We never knew Mom and Pop were so pious until we were older.

2004 Washington Monthly (Nexis) 1 Mar. 25 Abdullah Gill, Turkey's foreign minister and a pious Muslim.

2. Faithful to, or according with, the duties and obligations owed to family, friends, or others; characterized by loyal affection, esp. to parents; dutiful, loyal. Now archaic.

ΘΚΠ

society > morality > duty or obligation > recognition of duty > [adjective]

lawfulc1430

dutiful1552

duteous1594

pious1614

1614 A. Gorges tr. Lucan Pharsalia ix. 412 Twas fit he thought, that they all saw He was a pious Father-in-law: Wherewith he fained teares did shed.

1634 T. Herbert Relation Some Yeares Trauaile 59 White marble Pillars, a top of which now inhabit the pious Storkes.

1706 N. Rowe Ulysses ii. i. 765 Love and willing Friendship Employ their pious Offices in Vain.

1754 S. Foote Knights Prol. The pious Boy, his Father's Toil rewarding, For Thousands throws a Main at Covent-Garden.

1820 J. Keats Eve of St. Agnes in Lamia & Other Poems 94 With..pious care, She..the aged gossip led.

1855 E. C. Gaskell North & South II. xiv. 183 I could bear up for papa; because that is a natural, pious duty.

1920 R. W. Chapman Portrait of Scholar 79 To restore, and maintain in its integrity, the text of our great writers is a pious duty.

2001 Daily Mail (Nexis) 27 Apr. 50 Tyrannical Mum..and gibbering Dad..destroy their children with pious affection, and worse, and are in turn destroyed by them.

3. Of a fraud or deception: practised for the supposed benefit of those deceived, or to further what is considered a virtuous aim; (in negative sense) intended to exploit religious credulity.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > cheating, fraud > [adjective] > for worthy purpose

pious1622

1622 J. Everard Three Sunnes Seene 19 This briefe narration was not by me intended, as a pious fraud, to make men afraid where there is no cause of feare.

1649 Εἰκων Βασιλικη xv. 124 I shall never gratifie the spightfulnesse of a few with any sinister thoughts of all their Allegiance, whom pious frauds have seduced.

1678 R. Cudworth True Intellect. Syst. Universe i. iv. 319 There is too much cause to suspect that there have been some Pious Frauds practised upon these Trismegistick Writings.

1712 J. Addison Spectator No. 419. ¶5 Pious Frauds were made use of to amuse Mankind.

1776 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall I. xv. 517 Pious forgeries..under the names of Orpheus, Hermes, and the Sibyls, were obtruded on him [sc. the unenlightened Gentile] as of equal value with the genuine inspirations of Heaven.

1813 Gen. Hist. in Ann. Reg. 9/2 The necessity under which judges and juries so frequently laboured, of committing what had been called pious perjuries.

1912 Catholic Encycl. XIV. 340/2 Non-Catholics who either reject all worship of saints and relics or assume pious frauds on the part of the priests who benefit by the worship.

1976 J. M. Kelly Stud. in Civil Judicature Rom. Republic v. 131 What used to be called ‘pious perjury’..whereby..a jury would swear that the stolen goods were worth less than forty shillings (the level above which a capital sentence was passed), irrespective of the true value of the goods.

1997 Buffalo (N.Y.) News (Nexis) 29 Aug. 1 e I believe that almost 100 percent of weeping icons are pious frauds.

4. Of a wish or hope: optimistic, well-intentioned; felt or expressed in order to maintain the appearance of optimism; (hence) sincere but unlikely to be fulfilled; unrealistic, extravagant.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > expectation > hope > optimism > [adjective]

brighta1413

piousa1640

rosy-coloured1777

optimistical1834

optimizing1836

optimistic1849

rosy1859

optimist1860

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > disregard for truth, falsehood > lack of truth, falsity > [adjective] > not realistic

piousa1640

unreal1837

unrealistic1860

non-realistic1882

unrealist1933

a1640 J. Fletcher & P. Massinger Sea Voy. i. i., in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Aaaaa^v/1 My strong mind yet presages, Through all these dangers, we shall see a day yet Shall Crown your pious hopes.

1695 G. Burnet Ess. Mem. late Queen 116 If a greater Progres was not made in this, according to the pious Wishes of some, who had good Intentions, and much Zeal, the true Account of that slowness was [etc.].

1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones II. v. xii. 217 Here we cannot suppress a pious Wish, that all Quarrels were to be decided by those Weapons only, with which Nature..hath supplied us.

1865 Times 20 July 9/2 The Corporation express the pious hope that the happy circumstances under which the first stone is laid may prove a fortunate omen of its future history.

1888 Pall Mall Gaz. 12 Jan. 4/1 The celibacy of the ‘school marm’ is a heresy which as yet only exists in the pious dream of school managers and school boards.

1907 R. Fry Let. 3 Apr. (1972) I. 283 Mr Morgan..secured three [pictures] for himself and expressed a pious hope that the Museum might be able to buy the rest!

1931 Economist 11 Apr. 773/2 That this, as the phrasing suggests, is only a pious hope is apparent when the attitude of the three main groups of countries concerned is considered.

1995 Times Lit. Suppl. 27 Oct. 28/2 It is far too long, in spite of Powell's pious determination not to write ‘a doorstopper’.

5. Hypocritically virtuous; self-righteous; sanctimonious.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > behaviour > affected behaviour or affectation > [adjective] > consciously respectable

self-righteous?1575

Pharisaica1618

wholehearteda1628

smug1669

pious1683

righteous1809

1683 A. Marsh Confession New Married Couple f. 3^v Drest up in such holding forth Language and pious hypocrisie, as such generally make use of.

1690 T. Shadwell Amorous Bigotte v. i. 41 Must I be buried while alive with Melancholy and Green-sickness'd Nuns? your pious hypocrites and Chalk-eaters, and lose for ever my dear Doristeo?

1707 E. Ward Hudibras Redivivus II. xi. 7 The hypocritick Cant, And pious Glav'rings of a Saint.

1750 T. Gordon Let. Consolation & Counsel 38 Preventing..all lying Prophecy, false Alarms, and pious Panics from the common Works of Nature.

1877 The Survival 345 A position of pious insincerity, or, shall I say insimplicity.

1932 R. Niebuhr Moral Man & Immoral Soc. v. 130 The unvarying reaction of capitalist newspapers to outbreaks of violence in labor disputes is to express pious abhorrence of the use of violent methods and then to call upon the state to use the militia in suppressing the exasperated workers.

1980 A. Thwaite Victorian Voices 17 All pious mush dressed up as manliness.

2001 Interzone Nov. 34/1 Obesity now enjoyed a protected status.., and pious public pronouncements against ‘sizeism’ were routine.

Compounds

C1.

pious-minded adj.

ΚΠ

1640 W. Vaughan Church Militant Pref. sig. A4 Such blisse pursues a Pious-minded Peere, And such I hope attends you there and heere.

1766 Genuine Mem. Maria Brown I. 45 She could not believe the holy father was altogether so pious-minded as he ought to have been.

1831 A. Opie Let. 7 Mar. in C. L. Brightwell Memorials Life A. Opie (1854) 282 I found the Queen a very pious-minded woman.

1926 A. Conan Doyle Firm of Girdlestone 277 Pious-minded youth.

2000 Daily News (Los Angeles) (Nexis) 1 Dec. (L.A. Life section) He's already an accomplished cross-dresser, which likely won't help his cause with the pious-minded etymological enthusiasts.

C2.

pious founder n. the founder of a college, school, order, etc., endowed for religious purposes.

ΚΠ

1627 W. Balcanquhall Statutes Heriot's Hosp. in G. Heriot Last Will (1835) 42 The bountiefull mantenance w^ch they living thair receave from the charetie of thair pious founder.

1746 T. Warton Progress of Discontent 120 And din'd untax'd untroubled, under The portrait of our pious founder.

1819 W. Scott Ivanhoe II. x. 180 Our immense possessions in every kingdom of Europe, our high military fame..these are dedicated to ends of which our pious founders little dreamed.

1931 V. Woolf Waves 65 I see the statue of our pious founder with the doves about his head.

2000 Hist. Today (Nexis) 1 Jan. 62 Unfortunately, our school's pious founder, Sir Edmund Shaa, had been a henchman of the arch-Yorkist villain, Richard III.

pious opinion n. Theology a belief commonly accepted, but not enjoined as a dogma or matter of faith; (hence) a belief which is not insisted on or carried out in practice (now archaic).

ΘΚΠ

society > faith > aspects of faith > doctrine > [noun] > unauthoritative

pious opinion1658

1658 J. Bramhall Schisme Garded i. xi. 200 Some of them are pious opinions or inferiour truths, which are proposed by the Church of England to all her Sonnes, as not to be opposed; not as Essentialls of Faith necessary to be believed by all Christians Necessitate medii, under pain of damnation.

1865 E. B. Pusey Eirenicon 127 The Bishop..‘could not dare’..to decide that there was evidence enough to erect the ‘pious opinion’ into a matter of faith.

2000 Daily News (N.Y.) (Nexis) 2 Mar. 31 Miracles must be relegated to the sphere of pious opinion.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

单词	pious
释义	piousadj. Brit. /ˈpʌɪəs/, U.S. /ˈpaɪəs/ Forms: late Middle English piouse, 1500s– pious, 1600s pioust, 1700s–1800s pyehouse (humorous and regional); Scottish pre-1700 piouse, pre-1700 pyous, pre-1700 1700s– pious, 1800s peeous, 1900s– poious. Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French, combined with an English element; perhaps modelled on a French lexical item. Partly a borrowing from Latin, combined with an English element; perhaps modelled on a French lexical item. Etymons: French piu , pius , -ous suffix; Latin pius , -ous suffix. Etymology: < Anglo-Norman piu, pi, etc. and Middle French pius (end of 10th cent. in Old French) and its etymon classical Latin pius dutiful, pious, devout (cognate with Oscan piíhiúí , Umbrian pihaz ; perhaps related to classical Latin pūrus pure adj.) + -ous suffix, perhaps after Middle French pieux (1st quarter of 15th cent.; compare Old French pieus, pious; French pieux). Compare Old Occitan pis, piu ( c1070), Catalan (rare) pio (1560), Spanish pío (late 14th cent.), Italian pio (1255 or earlier). 1. a. Of an action, thought, resolve, etc.: characterized by, expressing, or resulting from true reverence and obedience to God; devout, religious.Sometimes in ironic use, passing into sense 5. ΘΚΠ society > faith > aspects of faith > piety > [adjective] GodfrightOE goodOE ghostlyOE Godfrightya1225 seelya1225 devout?c1225 piteousc1300 spiritualc1384 graciousa1387 godlyc1390 pitifulc1449 inwardc1450 piousc1450 evangelica1475 servantly1503 obedientiala1513 Christian1526 well-believing1529 God-fearing1548 resigneda1555 heavenly minded1569 timorate1570 Godfull1593 pious1595 fearful1597 devoutful1598 devotea1625 serious1684 unctuous1742 theopathetic1749 fire-spirited1845 theopathic1846 unctional1849 interior1854 devotionate1864 sacramental1874 pi1891 c1450 in H. Anstey Epistolae Academicae Oxon. (1898) I. 294 (MED) Oure seide Universith..prayth ȝow devotly to excepte colleges of þe same Universyth, of piouse intencione to þe worshyp of god, and encrese of holy fayth. 1599 R. Parsons Temperate Ward-word vi. 86 The course which they haue hitherto held is most honorable and pious before God and man. 1604 W. Shakespeare Hamlet iii. i. 50 Tis too much proou'd, that with deuotions visage And pious action, we doe sugar ore The deuill himselfe. View more context for this quotation 1628 G. Wither Britain's Remembrancer 200 Those thy gifts that cary The pioust showes have scarce been voluntary. 1677 A. Marvell Acct. Growth Popery 11 That so great a part of the Land should be alienated..to, as they call it, Pious Uses. 1746 T. Morell Judas Maccabæus (Air) Pious orgies, pious airs, Decent sorrow, decent prayers, Will to the Lord ascend. 1753 J. Hanway Hist. Acct. Brit. Trade Caspian Sea II. iii. xxvii. 170 They modulate their voices to a tone consistent with pious thoughts. 1781 G. Crabbe Library 24 Old pious tracts, and Bibles bound in wood. 1810 W. Wordsworth Prose Wks. (1876) II. 33 The sensations of pious cheerfulness, which attend the celebration of the sabbath-day in rural places. 1874 J. Sully Sensation & Intuition 116 Pious attempts to coerce belief. 1949 E. Waugh Let. 9 Nov. (1980) 312 I made a pious resolution that for a year I would do everything I was asked to do by Catholic bodies. 1997 Times 1 Sept. 25/2 Although not pious, her conduct deserves to be called Christian. b. Of a person: having or showing reverence and obedience to God; faithful to religious duties and observances; devout, godly, religious. ΘΚΠ society > faith > aspects of faith > piety > [adjective] GodfrightOE goodOE ghostlyOE Godfrightya1225 seelya1225 devout?c1225 piteousc1300 spiritualc1384 graciousa1387 godlyc1390 pitifulc1449 inwardc1450 piousc1450 evangelica1475 servantly1503 obedientiala1513 Christian1526 well-believing1529 God-fearing1548 resigneda1555 heavenly minded1569 timorate1570 Godfull1593 pious1595 fearful1597 devoutful1598 devotea1625 serious1684 unctuous1742 theopathetic1749 fire-spirited1845 theopathic1846 unctional1849 interior1854 devotionate1864 sacramental1874 pi1891 1595 W. Allen et al. Conf. Next Succession Crowne of Ingland i. iii. 42 He ordained a mynt with a peculier forme of money to be stamped..& other like acts of a prudent and pious Prince. 1612 J. Davies Muses Sacrifice 96 Then pious men, still praying in their Cell, doe take for Heau'n; for, That the Sp'rit delights. 1628 G. Wither Britain's Remembrancer 8 For we doe reade, that Kings who pioust were Had wicked subjects. 1697 J. Woodward Acct. Relig. Societies London in Earnest Admon. Young Persons 225 That an Orthodox and pious Minister should be chosen by each Society, as the Director and Visiter of it. a1715 Bp. G. Burnet Hist. Own Time (1734) II. 27 Mackay..was the piousest man I ever knew. 1791 J. Boswell Life Johnson anno 1763 I. 226 [Johnson:] Campbell is a good man, a pious man... He never passes a church without pulling off his hat. 1839 C. Dickens Nicholas Nickleby iv. 26 I asked one of your references, and he said you were pious. 1860 R. W. Emerson Fate in Conduct of Life (London ed.) 27 What pious men in the parlour will vote for what reprobates at the polls! 1920 Glasgow Herald 14 May 9 The well-intentioned proposals of certain pious Churchmen. 1993 Latin Mass (Special ed.) 23/1 We never knew Mom and Pop were so pious until we were older. 2004 Washington Monthly (Nexis) 1 Mar. 25 Abdullah Gill, Turkey's foreign minister and a pious Muslim. 2. Faithful to, or according with, the duties and obligations owed to family, friends, or others; characterized by loyal affection, esp. to parents; dutiful, loyal. Now archaic. ΘΚΠ society > morality > duty or obligation > recognition of duty > [adjective] lawfulc1430 dutiful1552 duteous1594 pious1614 1614 A. Gorges tr. Lucan Pharsalia ix. 412 Twas fit he thought, that they all saw He was a pious Father-in-law: Wherewith he fained teares did shed. 1634 T. Herbert Relation Some Yeares Trauaile 59 White marble Pillars, a top of which now inhabit the pious Storkes. 1706 N. Rowe Ulysses ii. i. 765 Love and willing Friendship Employ their pious Offices in Vain. 1754 S. Foote Knights Prol. The pious Boy, his Father's Toil rewarding, For Thousands throws a Main at Covent-Garden. 1820 J. Keats Eve of St. Agnes in Lamia & Other Poems 94 With..pious care, She..the aged gossip led. 1855 E. C. Gaskell North & South II. xiv. 183 I could bear up for papa; because that is a natural, pious duty. 1920 R. W. Chapman Portrait of Scholar 79 To restore, and maintain in its integrity, the text of our great writers is a pious duty. 2001 Daily Mail (Nexis) 27 Apr. 50 Tyrannical Mum..and gibbering Dad..destroy their children with pious affection, and worse, and are in turn destroyed by them. 3. Of a fraud or deception: practised for the supposed benefit of those deceived, or to further what is considered a virtuous aim; (in negative sense) intended to exploit religious credulity. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > cheating, fraud > [adjective] > for worthy purpose pious1622 1622 J. Everard Three Sunnes Seene 19 This briefe narration was not by me intended, as a pious fraud, to make men afraid where there is no cause of feare. 1649 Εἰκων Βασιλικη xv. 124 I shall never gratifie the spightfulnesse of a few with any sinister thoughts of all their Allegiance, whom pious frauds have seduced. 1678 R. Cudworth True Intellect. Syst. Universe i. iv. 319 There is too much cause to suspect that there have been some Pious Frauds practised upon these Trismegistick Writings. 1712 J. Addison Spectator No. 419. ¶5 Pious Frauds were made use of to amuse Mankind. 1776 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall I. xv. 517 Pious forgeries..under the names of Orpheus, Hermes, and the Sibyls, were obtruded on him [sc. the unenlightened Gentile] as of equal value with the genuine inspirations of Heaven. 1813 Gen. Hist. in Ann. Reg. 9/2 The necessity under which judges and juries so frequently laboured, of committing what had been called pious perjuries. 1912 Catholic Encycl. XIV. 340/2 Non-Catholics who either reject all worship of saints and relics or assume pious frauds on the part of the priests who benefit by the worship. 1976 J. M. Kelly Stud. in Civil Judicature Rom. Republic v. 131 What used to be called ‘pious perjury’..whereby..a jury would swear that the stolen goods were worth less than forty shillings (the level above which a capital sentence was passed), irrespective of the true value of the goods. 1997 Buffalo (N.Y.) News (Nexis) 29 Aug. 1 e I believe that almost 100 percent of weeping icons are pious frauds. 4. Of a wish or hope: optimistic, well-intentioned; felt or expressed in order to maintain the appearance of optimism; (hence) sincere but unlikely to be fulfilled; unrealistic, extravagant. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > expectation > hope > optimism > [adjective] brighta1413 piousa1640 rosy-coloured1777 optimistical1834 optimizing1836 optimistic1849 rosy1859 optimist1860 the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > disregard for truth, falsehood > lack of truth, falsity > [adjective] > not realistic piousa1640 unreal1837 unrealistic1860 non-realistic1882 unrealist1933 a1640 J. Fletcher & P. Massinger Sea Voy. i. i., in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Aaaaa^v/1 My strong mind yet presages, Through all these dangers, we shall see a day yet Shall Crown your pious hopes. 1695 G. Burnet Ess. Mem. late Queen 116 If a greater Progres was not made in this, according to the pious Wishes of some, who had good Intentions, and much Zeal, the true Account of that slowness was [etc.]. 1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones II. v. xii. 217 Here we cannot suppress a pious Wish, that all Quarrels were to be decided by those Weapons only, with which Nature..hath supplied us. View more context for this quotation 1865 Times 20 July 9/2 The Corporation express the pious hope that the happy circumstances under which the first stone is laid may prove a fortunate omen of its future history. 1888 Pall Mall Gaz. 12 Jan. 4/1 The celibacy of the ‘school marm’ is a heresy which as yet only exists in the pious dream of school managers and school boards. 1907 R. Fry Let. 3 Apr. (1972) I. 283 Mr Morgan..secured three [pictures] for himself and expressed a pious hope that the Museum might be able to buy the rest! 1931 Economist 11 Apr. 773/2 That this, as the phrasing suggests, is only a pious hope is apparent when the attitude of the three main groups of countries concerned is considered. 1995 Times Lit. Suppl. 27 Oct. 28/2 It is far too long, in spite of Powell's pious determination not to write ‘a doorstopper’. 5. Hypocritically virtuous; self-righteous; sanctimonious. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > behaviour > affected behaviour or affectation > [adjective] > consciously respectable self-righteous?1575 Pharisaica1618 wholehearteda1628 smug1669 pious1683 righteous1809 1683 A. Marsh Confession New Married Couple f. 3^v Drest up in such holding forth Language and pious hypocrisie, as such generally make use of. 1690 T. Shadwell Amorous Bigotte v. i. 41 Must I be buried while alive with Melancholy and Green-sickness'd Nuns? your pious hypocrites and Chalk-eaters, and lose for ever my dear Doristeo? 1707 E. Ward Hudibras Redivivus II. xi. 7 The hypocritick Cant, And pious Glav'rings of a Saint. 1750 T. Gordon Let. Consolation & Counsel 38 Preventing..all lying Prophecy, false Alarms, and pious Panics from the common Works of Nature. 1877 The Survival 345 A position of pious insincerity, or, shall I say insimplicity. 1932 R. Niebuhr Moral Man & Immoral Soc. v. 130 The unvarying reaction of capitalist newspapers to outbreaks of violence in labor disputes is to express pious abhorrence of the use of violent methods and then to call upon the state to use the militia in suppressing the exasperated workers. 1980 A. Thwaite Victorian Voices 17 All pious mush dressed up as manliness. 2001 Interzone Nov. 34/1 Obesity now enjoyed a protected status.., and pious public pronouncements against ‘sizeism’ were routine. Compounds C1. pious-minded adj. ΚΠ 1640 W. Vaughan Church Militant Pref. sig. A4 Such blisse pursues a Pious-minded Peere, And such I hope attends you there and heere. 1766 Genuine Mem. Maria Brown I. 45 She could not believe the holy father was altogether so pious-minded as he ought to have been. 1831 A. Opie Let. 7 Mar. in C. L. Brightwell Memorials Life A. Opie (1854) 282 I found the Queen a very pious-minded woman. 1926 A. Conan Doyle Firm of Girdlestone 277 Pious-minded youth. 2000 Daily News (Los Angeles) (Nexis) 1 Dec. (L.A. Life section) He's already an accomplished cross-dresser, which likely won't help his cause with the pious-minded etymological enthusiasts. C2. pious founder n. the founder of a college, school, order, etc., endowed for religious purposes. ΚΠ 1627 W. Balcanquhall Statutes Heriot's Hosp. in G. Heriot Last Will (1835) 42 The bountiefull mantenance w^ch they living thair receave from the charetie of thair pious founder. 1746 T. Warton Progress of Discontent 120 And din'd untax'd untroubled, under The portrait of our pious founder. 1819 W. Scott Ivanhoe II. x. 180 Our immense possessions in every kingdom of Europe, our high military fame..these are dedicated to ends of which our pious founders little dreamed. 1931 V. Woolf Waves 65 I see the statue of our pious founder with the doves about his head. 2000 Hist. Today (Nexis) 1 Jan. 62 Unfortunately, our school's pious founder, Sir Edmund Shaa, had been a henchman of the arch-Yorkist villain, Richard III. pious opinion n. Theology a belief commonly accepted, but not enjoined as a dogma or matter of faith; (hence) a belief which is not insisted on or carried out in practice (now archaic). ΘΚΠ society > faith > aspects of faith > doctrine > [noun] > unauthoritative pious opinion1658 1658 J. Bramhall Schisme Garded i. xi. 200 Some of them are pious opinions or inferiour truths, which are proposed by the Church of England to all her Sonnes, as not to be opposed; not as Essentialls of Faith necessary to be believed by all Christians Necessitate medii, under pain of damnation. 1865 E. B. Pusey Eirenicon 127 The Bishop..‘could not dare’..to decide that there was evidence enough to erect the ‘pious opinion’ into a matter of faith. 2000 Daily News (N.Y.) (Nexis) 2 Mar. 31 Miracles must be relegated to the sphere of pious opinion. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < adj.c1450
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