More words that are easy to confuse

Devout/ devote

The adjective devout means to feel profound religious emotions. Someone who is devout is pious and reverent, committed to a belief. Devout people are dedicated, faithful, and sincere. The verb devote means to give time or resources to something. If we devote our time to something, we assign or commit time to it. The verb devote derives from a Latin term meaning to vow or promise. So if we devote our time to something, we have promised to dedicate ourselves to it. The adjective devoted means loyal, faithful, and committed. Another meaning of the adjective devoted is to be dedicated to something. People who are devoted to a religion may be called devout, but it would be bad English usage to refer to them as devote. How can we easily remember to separate the meanings of devout and devote? If we make up little stories about each words, it may prevent confusion about their meanings. For example, the letter u in the word devout may remind us of the smile of a person who is devoted to religion. In the word devote, we can see the verb vote, which may help us to recall that devote and vote are both words that describe doing something, as verbs. So we should not make the error of using devote as an adjective.

Some usage examples:

• Devout Buddhists invited to worship. The Culture Ministry is inviting members of the public to pay homage to nine important Buddha images at Bangkok’s Front Palace in the National Museum compound from December 25 to January 26. The compound is open to the public from 9am to 4pm daily. The ministry’s permanent secretary Preecha Kanthiya said yesterday that the project entitled “Nop Phra Nawarat, Phra Patima 9 Phaendin” enshrined nine key Buddha images – including the Sukhothai-style Phra Buddha Sihing image – at the Puttisawan Hall for the one-month period. Preecha said this annual event had previously attracted as many as 119,220 devout Buddhists in total.
• Indonesia’s weapon to cut plastic bag use: devout Muslims. Indonesia, one of the planet’s major plastic polluters, is now banking on one of its biggest resources to entice people to take a plastic bag diet: Muslim clerics. On Tuesday, the government announced a cooperation agreement with clerics from the country’s largest Muslim groups, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah, to change consumer behaviour pertaining to the use of plastic shopping bags. In the partnership, NU and Muhammadiyah now have a mission to promote the use of reusable bags to cut plastic bag use in Indonesia. “NU and Muhammadiyah have a large number of followers. The most forceful way is for their clerics to tell the masses in a simple way to change their mind sets,” Rosa Vivien Ratnawati, the Environment and Forestry Ministry’s director-general for waste management, said.
• Religious chanting has replaced parties and alcohol for many devout Buddhists on New Year’s Eve.
• The rite of passage ceremony known as the Poi Sang Long Festival takes place in two week’s time and is well worth the long bus or car journey through the mountains to Thailand’s north-west frontier. The ceremony, which takes place over three days and is as every bit as devout as it is festive, sees the boys dressed in ornate costumes and wearing turbans covered with flowers and facial make-up.
• At 7am yesterday, Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra led other devout Buddhists in giving alms to 231 monks in Sanam Luang, where exhibitions and other special events have been held since May 18. The Buddha relic has been moved to the area for the devout to worship and will be returned to the Temple of the Emerald Buddha today.
• A hobbled Jim Parsons helped a highly devout theater fan complete her summer-long ‘The Boys in the Band’ mission days before the show is set to close.
• Alibaba’s charismatic co-founder and chairman Jack Ma plans to retire from the Chinese e-commerce giant on Monday to devote his time to philanthropy focused on education, he told the New York Times in an interview.
• Bangchak Corporation (BCP) will devote the lion’s share of a Bt15 billion, five-year investment plan to raising its crude oil refinery capacity to 130,000 barrels a day by 2020 from 135,000 barrels now.
• T Moment is his third sortie in the filmmaking business. More than 30 years ago, he set up Tai Entertainment, which then merged with GMM Grammy and Hub Ho Hin Company to become the most successful film studio GTH before ending its run slightly more than two years ago. And despite his vast experience, he is well aware that turning T Moment into a success will be no easy task, saying that he nonetheless intends to devote 10 years to this venture before calling it quits.
• Devoted Silpakorn students and alumni have tracked down and spruced up a former home of Silpa Bhirasri.
• Siam Piwat yesterday officially opened Ecotopia, a retail space devoted to environmentally friendly and healthy products, in a move aimed at reinforcing its position as a retail operator in tune with lifestyle trends.
• In recent years, much attention has been devoted to the rapid advancement of technology and its ever-growing impact on society as the fourth industrial revolution looms on the horizon.
• Totally devoted … to Bangkok. Australian pop icon Olivia Newton-John was back in Bangkok on Tuesday night for another evening of nostalgic hits that took audiences happily down memory lane.
• Thailand gets its own store devoted to the message-app characters. Thai fans of Line characters seen in the popular chat application no longer need to go to South Korea or Japan to buy official Line merchandise. Thailand’s first Line store opened last Friday at Bangkok’s Siam Square One.
• Jakarta – Thai superfan Parinya Weerawong has been cheering at international sports events for 15 years, but his enthusiasm was undiminished at the Asian Games as he jammed flags into his hat and beat drums hanging from his waist. The 60-year-old petro-chemical company employee sported a traditional Thai scarlet outfit in Jakarta, where he devoted most of his boundless energy to the weight-lifting and boxing.
• Tak Bai doctor receives top award for work in troubled South. A doctor who has devoted himself to healthcare in the trouble-plagued deep South, has been named the Outstanding Rural Doctor of the Year.

(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)