obeisance
Syllables: o·bei·sance/əˈbiː.səns//əʊˈbeɪ.səns/
obeisance noun: demonstration of an obedient attitude, especially by bowing deeply; a deep bow which demonstrates such an attitude.
Noun
obeisance (countable and uncountable, plural obeisances)
- Demonstration of an obedient attitude, especially by bowing deeply; a deep bow which demonstrates such an attitude.
- In there stepped a stately raven of the saintly days of yore; / Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;1845 February, — Quarles [pseudonym; Edgar Allan Poe], “The Raven”, in The American Review, volume I, number II, New York, N.Y.; London: Wiley & Putnam, […], →OCLC
- But looking upwards in the blaze of the moon I suddenly saw colossi sitting near, and towering up and blotting out the stars and filling the night with blackness; and at those idols’ feet I saw praying and making obeisance kings and the days that are and all times and all cities and all nations and...1915 April, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], “Alone the Immortals”, in Fifty-one Tales, London: [Charles] Elkin Mathews, →OCLC
- An obedient attitude.
obeisance meaning in Urdu, Bengali, Telugu and Malayalam
obeisance in Urdu
- اطاعت, مجرا
obeisance in Bengali
- obeisance; salutation
- তসলিম toslim
obeisance in Telugu
- an obeisance or salutation
- నమస్కారము namaskāramu
- an obeisance, salutation
- వందనము vandanamu
obeisance in Malayalam
- വണക്കം, വന്ദനം, അഭിവാദ്യം
More languagesFewer languages
- obeisance in Kannada
- ತಲೆಬಾಗುವಿಕೆ, ವಂದನೆ, ನಮನ, ನಮಸ್ಕಾರ
- obeisance in Odia
- ପ୍ରଣତି praṇati
- obeisance in Sanskrit
- नमस् namas
- obeisance in Assamese
- ওলগ ülog
Forms of obeisance
| plural | obeisances |
|---|---|
| alternative form | obeisaunce |
| alternative form | obeissance |
| alternative form | abaisance |
Origin of obeisance
From Middle English obeisaunce (“obedience, obeisance”), from Old French obeïssance, derived from obeïssant (“obedient”), participle of obeïr (“to obey”), from Latin oboediō, obēdiō; ob- (“to, for”) + audiō (“to hear”). Cognate with obedience.
Words formed from obeisance
Questions about obeisance
- What does obeisance mean?
- Obeisance means demonstration of an obedient attitude, especially by bowing deeply; a deep bow which demonstrates such an attitude.
- What is obeisance in Urdu?
- Obeisance in Urdu is اطاعت, مجرا. See Obeisance meaning in Urdu.
- What part of speech is obeisance?
- Obeisance is a noun.
- How do you pronounce obeisance?
- Obeisance is pronounced /əˈbiː.səns/.
- What is the plural of obeisance?
- The plural of obeisance is obeisances.
Words near obeisance in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: obeisance (page history and authors); obeisance (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); তসলিম (Bengali) (page history and authors); నమస్కారము (Telugu) (page history and authors); obeisance (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); obeisance (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ପ୍ରଣତି (Odia) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-obeisance.wav, En-us-obeisance.ogg.
Cite this entry: “obeisance.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/obeisance. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.