irreverence

noun

"irreverence" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“irreverence” is uncommon English (frequency #69,145 among 2,140 “I” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#69,145
frequency rank, English
2,140
“I” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The state or quality of being irreverent; want of proper reverence; disregard of the authority and character of a superior.

Corpus desk

Index EN-irreverence · irreverence · English

irreverence · rank #69,145 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #69,145
  • LEN-MEGA 11 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,140
  • PHOTO-FINISH irie

Nearest frequency peer: irie (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “irreverence”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “irreverence” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for irreverence
PropertyValue
Headwordirreverence
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters11
Frequency rank#69,145
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “irreverence” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).irreverencefalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “irie” (#69,144), “inwood” (#69,143), “issei” (#69,147). Among 2,140 “I” headwords, “irreverence” is #69,145. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

irreverence is uncommon English at frequency #69,145 among 2,140 “I” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The state or quality of being irreverent; want of proper reverence; disregard of the authority and character of a superior.".

Zero misspellings are on record for irreverence in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English irreverence, from Latin irreverentia, from irreverēns (“irreverent”) + -ia (suffix forming abstract nouns). By surface analysis, ir- + reverence. The correct English form is irreverence, spelled I-R-R-E-V-E-R-E-N-C-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    The state or quality of being irreverent; want of proper reverence; disregard of the authority and character of a superior.

Etymology

From Middle English irreverence, from Latin irreverentia, from irreverēns (“irreverent”) + -ia (suffix forming abstract nouns). By surface analysis, ir- + reverence.

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "irreverence"?
"irreverence" is spelled I-R-R-E-V-E-R-E-N-C-E.
What does "irreverence" mean?
As a noun, "irreverence" means: The state or quality of being irreverent; want of proper reverence; disregard of the authority and character of a superior.
What is the origin of the word "irreverence"?
From Middle English irreverence, from Latin irreverentia, from irreverēns (“irreverent”) + -ia (suffix forming abstract nouns). By surface analysis, ir- + reverence. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "irreverence", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 11 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list