head bowing
Lowering one's gaze
Head bowing is lowering one's head as a gesture of respect, reverence, or submission.
It appears in religious contexts—prayer, entering sacred spaces—and secular ones like greeting elders or acknowledging authority.
A slight bow may signal deference; a deeper one suggests solemnity or grief.
The congregation joined in head bowing before the benediction.
- nodBrief head tilt
- reverenceProfound admiring respect
- prayerAddress to deity
- silent prayerVoiceless religious entreaty
- submissionYielding to another's will
respect · genuflect · humble · curtsy · greeting · solemn · worship · deference · lowered · lowered gaze · shame · acknowledgment · supplication · obeisance · meditation · moment of silence · silent · neck
- ritual gesturesgenuflect, genuflection, prostration, kneeling, hands folded
- submission gestureskowtow, genuflection, genuflect, genuflecting, prostration
- sadnesssad, unhappy, grief, sorrowful, heartbroken
- surrendersurrender, surrenders, surrendering, I surrender, capitulate
- complianceaudit, obeying, policy, compliance officer, regulation
head bowingdefiance
Open resistance to authority
chest puffing · strutting · dominance display · looking down one's nose · staring down
head, bowing, heads, headed, heading, header, headless, overhead, beheaded