How to Use pious in a Sentence

pious

adjective
  • They lived a quiet, pious life.
  • I'm tired of hearing politicians making pious pronouncements about their devotion to the people.
  • The Sabbath, as the more pious call it, is intended to be a day of rest.
    Rachel Levin, SFChronicle.com, 11 June 2020
  • But in the years since, China has slowly relaxed its ban on the pious.
    James Chau, Newsweek, 2 May 2017
  • The funniest thing about the Mets is the players’ pious self-image.
    New York Times, 30 Aug. 2021
  • The window is narrowing and the time for pious concern is over.
    CNN, 23 Jan. 2020
  • There is an old joke about a pious man stranded on a desert island.
    Jessica Kiang, Variety, 8 July 2023
  • The pious ending is the purest kitsch, but the rest is as delightful as was, no doubt, that bottle of Château Peyraguey.
    John Banville, WSJ, 2 Oct. 2020
  • But on the heels of his pious disgust would come his essential Tom O’Brien-ness.
    Maryoconn, Longreads, 18 Sep. 2017
  • All women in Gilead are required to be pious and subservient to men.
    Los Angeles Times, 29 June 2022
  • The monks also worry that touts and mass tourism will turn their biggest, most pious donors away.
    The Economist, 26 Apr. 2018
  • That adds to Imamoglu’s appeal even among pious young men who would normally back the AKP.
    Laura King, latimes.com, 22 June 2019
  • Some have pointed out that sumo has not always been so pious.
    The Economist, 14 Apr. 2018
  • Staples sings from her depths, with low moans and ragged, seductive growls that cut through even the most pious lyric.
    David Remnick, The New Yorker, 27 June 2022
  • Being seen as such—and pious and dutiful to boot—was what gave them the license to speak in public and to write.
    Margaret Talbot, The New Yorker, 15 July 2024
  • Like the crew of Apollo 8, Fessenden’s broadcast was of a pious nature.
    Tony Long, WIRED, 24 Dec. 2008
  • This was intensely painful for Faigy, who was deeply pious.
    Larissa MacFarquhar, The New Yorker, 30 Nov. 2020
  • Perhaps the most galling part of Barr’s speech, under current circumstances, is its hymn to the pious life.
    Jeffrey Toobin, The New Yorker, 18 Oct. 2019
  • Like pious Carmela in her haute bourgeois drag, art museums are married to the mob.
    Rhonda Lieberman, The New Republic, 23 Sep. 2019
  • Only when the tiny figure of the Catholic schoolgirl passes out of frame does the camera pan up and show us a pious stone face, hands clasped in prayer.
    Annie Sisk, baltimoresun.com, 22 May 2017
  • Never mind that the pious hosts were to toast a rough-and-tumble team known for its dirty tricks and abrasive behavior.
    Mike Klingaman, baltimoresun.com, 30 June 2021
  • It is haunted by ghosts, even if its more pious residents wouldn’t put it that way.
    Alissa Wilkinson, Vox, 12 July 2018
  • Other businesses that would have made the pious padres roll in their graves soon followed.
    Gary Kamiya, SFChronicle.com, 27 Nov. 2020
  • Dovid feels the same pressure to be devout, to serve as a pious example to the community.
    Gary Thompson, Philly.com, 10 May 2018
  • By 2014, pious Hindus had defected in large numbers to the BJP.
    Dan Slater, Foreign Affairs, 3 July 2019
  • Both are the object of pious, if not exactly lustful, love.
    Eliana Dockterman, Time, 15 Sep. 2017
  • This was not regarded as a failure by the yeshivas: from their point of view, no more was necessary to live a pious life.
    Larissa MacFarquhar, The New Yorker, 30 Nov. 2020
  • And, initially, the pious newcomers didn't even invite the Wampanoags to the revelry.
    Brandon Tensley, CNN, 25 Nov. 2021
  • Nice guys, or, anyway, pious guys, finish last and should be proud of their position.
    Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 21 Aug. 2023
  • The second scene occurs some months later, after Shin-ae has become a pious Christian.
    Indiewire Staff, IndieWire, 13 Aug. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'pious.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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