Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Irreverent \Ir*rev"er*ent\, a. [L. irreverens, -entis: cf. F. irr['e]v['e]rent. See In- not, and Reverent.] Not reverent; showing a lack of reverence; expressive of a lack of veneration; as, an irreverent babbler; an irreverent jest.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
mid-15c., from Latin irreverentem (see irreverence). Related: Irreverently (early 15c.); irreverential.\n
Wiktionary
a. 1 Lacking respect or seriousness. 2 Courageous, straightforward, having mass appeal, but likely to offend. Challenging the status quo, rocking the boat.
WordNet
adj. showing lack of due respect or veneration; "irreverent scholars mocking sacred things"; "noisy irreverent tourists" [ant: reverent]
characterized by a lightly pert and exuberant quality; "a certain irreverent gaiety and ease of manner" [syn: impertinent, pert, saucy]
not revering god [syn: godless]
Usage examples of "irreverent".
The one habit that both Dixon and Cerro seemed to share was a sense of humor that at times seemed inappropriate and irreverent.
Young Withers visualised his dignified compradore the figure of fun to irreverent American crowds.
It should come as no surprise that the period ends with another earnest Victorian making wonderful, irreverent fun of respectability and earnestness, putting Victorianism in its final place, as he so often did, with epigrammatic and telling wit.
Always fresh, irreverent, original, brilliant, and on-the-edge, Thompson hurls himself headfirst into each assignment and situation and comes back with a story only he could write.
That led Amanda and Graham to provide their own comical and often irreverent embellishments, for which they told each other that the ghosts of those good folks would be after them one day, hence the joke.
But he was aware of her when she returned, for he had shoved the tome aside in irreverent frustration to stare gloomily at the blue skies and green forestland without.
His bed, from which she had hastily averted her eyes, was a huge fourposter, big enough for him to have entertained three Eva Chance-Smythes in it at once, being her naughtily irreverent thought at the sight of it.
Beyond the hut a clump of myalls loomed spectral and wraith-like, and round them a gang of crows cawed noisily, irreverent of the great silence.
Gift from UpstairsGod, the irreverent insanity down here, after a lifetime ase, and the politics, and the Movement.
Thus inspiring several irreverent comments,How can you tell being the cleanest of them.
Some of the newer Jaybirds looked embarrassed or angry as they plodded their winding course through this irreverent gauntlet, but the smiles on the faces of Sister Sue, Rivas, and the several deteriorated communicants never faltered.
Yet somtimes Nations will decline so low From vertue, which is reason, that no wrong, But Justice, and some fatal curse annext Deprives them of thir outward libertie, Thir inward lost: Witness th' irreverent Son Of him who built the Ark, who for the shame Don to his Father, heard this heavie curse, SERVANT OF SERVANTS, on his vitious Race.
I admired his daring on the radio and his irreverent antiauthority brand of humor.
Bold and buoyant throughout, it exhibits a free irreverent knowledge of the world, laughing or mocking as the thought serves, in the most unexpected antitheses to the proprieties of time, place, and circumstance.
Those concerns were underlined when Trey Parker, cocreator ofSouth Park, one of television’s most irreverent shows, joined the list of celebrities supporting the West Memphis Three.