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worship

Definition, pronunciation, etymology, and usage for the English word. Free spelling reference powered by Wiktionary.

Letters

7 characters

Language

English

word origin

Source

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Detailed reference entry for the English word "worship", 7-letters, with pronunciation in International Phonetic Alphabet notation, etymology traced through Germanic and Romance roots where applicable, common misspelling variants catalogued from Hunspell error dictionaries, and usage frequency ranked against the top 100,000 English words in the Wordfreq corpus. PlainSpell covers English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German spelling with confusable-pair detection that highlights visually and phonetically similar words. This entry for "worship" includes synonyms, antonyms, homophones, and cross-language translation pointers sourced from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org extract. Whether you are verifying the correct spelling of "worship" for academic writing, checking homophone confusion, or exploring etymological origins, this page provides a citation-backed, free reference that requires no sign-up.

worship is aEnglishnoun. It means: The devotion accorded to a deity or to a sacred object. Pronounced /ˈwɜː.ʃɪp/. It ranks #4,423 in English word frequency. Often confused with worshiped and warship.

Key facts for worship
PropertyValue
Headwordworship
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈwɜː.ʃɪp/
Letters7
Frequency rank#4,423
Misspellings tracked11
Confusable pairs3
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of worship in English word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for worship is 7 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈwɜː.ʃɪp/. Corpus data places it at rank #4,423 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 10 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 11 documented wrong-spelling variants for worship, with forms such as "owrship", "worhsip", and "worrship". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "worshiped", "warship", "workshop", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: Inherited from Middle English worschippe /worthschipe, inherited from Old English weorþsċiepe. Cognate with Scots worschip (“worship”). By surface analysis, wor(th) + -ship. Root origin matters for spelling because borrowed morphemes (Greek, Latin, Old French, Old English) carry their source-language orthographic conventions into modern English, which is why historical etymology is often the cleanest predictor of whether a cluster like "-ough", "-eau", or "-tion" will appear. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct English form is worship, spelled W-O-R-S-H-I-P, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    The devotion accorded to a deity or to a sacred object.
  2. 2
    The adoration (or latria) owed to God alone, as greater than the hyperveneration / hyper-veneration (or hyperdulia) that is given to Saint Mary only and the veneration (or dulia) accorded to all other Roman Catholic saints.
  3. 3
    The religious ceremonies that express this devotion.
  4. 4
    Voluntary, utter submission; voluntary, utter deference.
  5. 5
    Ardent love.
  6. 6
    An object of worship.
  7. 7
    Used as a title or term of address for various officials, including magistrates.
  8. 8
    Honour; respect; civil deference.
  9. 9
    The condition of being worthy; honour, distinction.
  10. 10
    The fact of an artist's music heavily drawing influence from some other artist's work in a way that appears too obvious or unapologetic; a piece of music that does that.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English worschippe /worthschipe, inherited from Old English weorþsċiepe. Cognate with Scots worschip (“worship”). By surface analysis, wor(th) + -ship.

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: owrship,worhsip,worrship,worshhip,worshipp,worshpi,worsihp,worsship,wosrhip,wroship,wworship

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for worship

Misspelling Variants of "worship"

owrship7worhsip7worrship8worshhip8worshipp8worshpi7worsihp7worsship8
Misspelling Variants of "worship"

Frequency rank: #4,423 in English

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "worship"?
"worship" is spelled W-O-R-S-H-I-P. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈwɜː.ʃɪp/.
What does "worship" mean?
As a noun, "worship" means: The devotion accorded to a deity or to a sacred object.
What words are commonly confused with "worship"?
"worship" is commonly confused with "worshiped", "warship", "workshop". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "worship"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "worship" is /ˈwɜː.ʃɪp/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "worship"?
Inherited from Middle English worschippe /worthschipe, inherited from Old English weorþsċiepe. Cognate with Scots worschip (“worship”). By surface analysis, wor(th) + -ship. 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.

Nearby English words

Other entries that begin with the letter W in our English index:

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Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.