All 5 Uses of
pious
in
The Handmaid's Tale
- Ordering prayers from Soul Scrolls is supposed to be a sign of piety and faithfulness to the regime, so of course the Commanders' Wives do it a lot.†
Chpt 27 *piety = religious or highly moral belief/behavior OR (more rarely) devotion or faithfulness
- I'd like to pass by the church," says Ofglen, as if piously.†
Chpt 6
- Her voice is pious, condescending, the voice of those whose duty it is to tell us unpleasant things for our own good.†
Chpt 19
- You were always so stinking pious.†
Chpt 27
- We're off to the Prayvaganza, to demonstrate how obedient and pious we are.†
Chpt 33
Definitions:
-
(1)
(pious as in: a good, pious woman) religious or highly moral
-
(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)
-
(3)
(pious as in: cling to the pious hope) (describing a hope or wish as) sincere, but highly unlikely
-
(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."