worship
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: wûr′shĭp
ipa: /ˈwɜː.ʃɪp/
ipa: /ˈwɝ.ʃɪp/
ipa: /ˈwɔɹ.ʃɪp/
rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)ʃɪp
homophone: warship (General American, rare)
Forms: form: worships
form: worshiping
form: worshipping
form: worshiped
form: worshiped
form: worshipped
form: worshipped
form: wurship
Etymology: Inherited from Middle English worschippe /worthschipe, inherited from Old English weorþsċiepe. Cognate with Scots worschip (“worship”).
Senses: examples: text: […] well ſaid yfaith neighbour Verges, God's a good man, and two men ride of a horſe, one muſt ride behinde, an honeſt ſoule yfaith ſir, by my troth he is, as euer broke bread, but God is to bee worſhipt, all men are not alike, alas good neighbour.
ref: 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene v], page 113, column 2:
text: When all our Fathers worſhip't Stocks and Stones, […]
ref: 1673, John Milton, “[Sonnet] XV. On the late Massacher in Piemont.”, in Poems, &c. upon Several Occasions, London: […] Tho[mas] Dring […], →OCLC, page 58:
glosses: To reverence (a deity, etc.) with supreme respect and veneration; to perform religious exercises in honour of.
examples: text: With bended knees I daily worship her, / Yet she consumes her own Idolater.
ref: c. 1639, Thomas Carew, The Poems and Masque of Thomas Carew, London: Reeves and Turner, published 1893, →OCLC, A Cruel Mistress, page 6:
text: “[…] And she would sit in the car and pretend to hold the wheel. All the household worshipped her! Even the police came to understand that. Ah, the beautiful little one!”
ref: 1934, Agatha Christie, Murder on the Orient Express, New York: Pocket Books, published 1960, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 236:
text: The social media accounts of Hu Chenfeng, an auto repairman turned influencer whose videos have highlighted poverty and inequality in China, have been removed from several platforms. Propaganda officials in Zhejiang have accused him of “worshiping the West.”
ref: 2025 October 7, Lily Kuo, “China Punishes ‘Excessively Pessimistic’ Social Media Users”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 08 Oct 2025:
glosses: To honour with extravagant love and extreme submission, as a lover; to adore; to idolize.
examples: text: We worship at the church down the road.
glosses: To participate in religious ceremonies.
examples: text: The kiss is heady and passionate. I show him how far we are from being over by worshipping him with my lips.
ref: 2018, Lauren Connolly, You Only Need One:
text: He moves lower to worship my breasts with his mouth, his teeth raking lightly over my nipple with the perfect amount of friction to build the pleasure coiling tight within me.
ref: 2023, Rebecca Yarros, Iron Flame:
text: Telling Kieran exactly how to please me, Kieran listening to every word and taking his time, making sure everything felt amazing, worshipping me with his hands and his mouth.
ref: 2024, Sarah Chamberlain, The Slowest Burn:
glosses: To touch, fondle, or kiss in an intensely sensual way.
Derived terms: worship the ground someone walks on
worship the porcelain god
worship the porcelain goddess