Obeisance

//əˈbiː.səns// noun

noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Demonstration of an obedient attitude, especially by bowing deeply; a deep bow which demonstrates such an attitude. countable, uncountable

    "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;"

  2. 2
    the act of obeying; dutiful or submissive behavior with respect to another person wordnet
  3. 3
    An obedient attitude. countable, uncountable
  4. 4
    bending the head or body or knee as a sign of reverence or submission or shame or greeting wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
bowobedienceacceptanceacquiescenceallegianceapple polishing

Example

More examples

"The dictator enforced obeisance on the people."

Etymology

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.

Related phrases

non-obeisancekiss someone's ring

More for "obeisance"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.