reverential

reverend, reverent, reverential

1. In its general meaning, reverend means ‘deserving reverence’, and is most often found in clerical contexts even when it is not a formal title, whereas reverent means ‘showing reverence’ in wider contexts:

• He also formed close links with the network of local Puritan ministers…whom he described in his will as ‘my reverend and pious friends’ —Dictionary of National Biography, 1993

• You can get away from the reverent hush of the concert hall —Times, 2005.

Reverential means ‘characterized by reverence’, and the main difference in meaning between it and reverent is that reverent describes a feeling or attitude and is judgemental whereas reverential denotes a connection with reverence and is informational:

• When she walked into a village the Africans would often clap their hands in a reverential way —W. Green, 1988.

2. Reverend, abbreviated Revd (no full stop) or Rev., is most commonly found as a title applied to certain members of the clergy.