All 3 Uses of
pious
in
A Room With A View
- Paganism is infectious--more infectious than diphtheria or piety--and the Rector's niece was taken to church protesting.
Chpt 15piety = religious or moral belief
- The armies are full of pleasant and pious folk.
Chpt 17pious = highly religious or moral
- Their pleasantry and their piety show cracks, their wit becomes cynicism, their unselfishness hypocrisy;
Chpt 17 *piety = high morals
Definitions:
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(1)
(pious as in: a good, pious woman) religious or highly moral
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(2)
(pious as in: a pious hypocrite) self-righteous (acting as though one is, or believing one is highly moral when it is not true)
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(3)
(pious as in: cling to the pious hope) (describing a hope or wish as) sincere, but highly unlikely
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(4)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
Much more rarely, piety can refer to devotion or faithfulness as Proust used it in the book, Swann's Way:
"...but when, as had befallen me, such an anguish possesses one's soul before Love has yet entered into one's life, then it must drift, awaiting Love's coming, vague and free, without precise attachment, at the disposal of one sentiment to-day, of another to-morrow, of filial piety or affection for a comrade."