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devotion

/dɪˈvoʊʃɪn/

/dɪˈvəʊʃɪn/

Other forms: devotions

If you feel loyal and loving toward someone or something, that's devotion. If your devotion to your pet hamster truly knows no limits, you might splurge on a solid-gold hamster wheel.

Devotion also means a commitment or dedication to some purpose. Your devotion recycling is noble, but can you wait until I've read the newspaper? The plural noun devotions can have a religious meaning too, meaning prayers offered to God. You heard the minister was hired for his devotion to God, but the fact that he fell asleep during devotions made you wonder.

Definitions of devotion
  1. noun
    commitment to some purpose
    “the devotion of his time and wealth to science”
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    types:
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    cultism
    devotion to the doctrine or a cult or to the practices of a cult
    hobbyism
    a devotion to hobbies
    fetich, fetish
    excessive or irrational devotion to some activity
    party spirit
    devotion to a political party
    type of:
    allegiance, commitment, dedication, loyalty
    the act of binding yourself (intellectually or emotionally) to a course of action
  2. noun
    feelings of ardent love
    “their devotion to each other was beautiful”
    synonyms: devotedness
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    type of:
    love
    a strong positive emotion of regard and affection
  3. noun
    religious zeal; the willingness to serve God
    synonyms: cultism, idolatry, veneration
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    types:
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    Bible-worship, bibliolatry
    the worship of the Bible
    grammatolatry, verbolatry, word-worship
    the worship of words
    symbol-worship, symbolatry, symbololatry
    the worship of symbols
    anthropolatry, worship of man
    the worship of human beings
    gynaeolatry, gyneolatry, woman-worship
    the worship of women
    lordolatry
    the worship of a lord because of his rank or title
    miracle-worship, thaumatolatry
    the worship of miracles
    place-worship, topolatry
    the worship of places
    type of:
    worship
    the activity of worshipping
  4. noun
    (usually plural) religious observance or prayers (usually spoken silently)
    “he returned to his devotions
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    types:
    bhakti
    (Hinduism) loving devotion to a deity leading to salvation and nirvana; open to all persons independent of caste or sex
    novena
    a Roman Catholic devotion consisting of prayers on nine consecutive days
    Stations, Stations of the Cross
    (Roman Catholic Church) a devotion consisting of fourteen prayers said before a series of fourteen pictures or carvings representing successive incidents during Jesus' passage from Pilate's house to his crucifixion at Calvary
    type of:
    prayer, supplication
    the act of communicating with a deity (especially as a petition or in adoration or contrition or thanksgiving)
Pronunciation
US

/dɪˈvoʊʃɪn/

UK

/dɪˈvəʊʃɪn/

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