An act of worship may be performed individually, within informal groups, or as part of a formal meeting. Religious worship occurs in a variety of locations including houses, rented venues, out in the open, or in purpose-built structures identified as places of worship. Most religious traditions place an emphasis on regular worship and many organize meetings for the purpose at frequent intervals, often daily or weekly.

Evelyn Underhill defines worship thus: "The adoring acknowledgment of all that lies beyond us—the glory that fills heaven and earth. It is the response that conscious beings make to their Creator, to the Eternal Reality from which they came forth; to God, however they may think of Him or recognize Him, and whether He be realized through religion, through nature, through history, through science, art, or human life and character."

In its older sense in English of worthiness or respect (Anglo-Saxon,worthscripe), worship may on occasion refer to an attitude towards someone of immensely elevated social status, such as a lord or a monarch, or, more loosely, towards an individual, such as a hero or one's lover.

Practices in worship vary between religions but typically include one or more of the following:

• prayer;
• sacrifice;
• rituals;
• meditation;
• holidays, festivals;
• sacraments;
• pilgrimages;
• music or singing;
• dance;
• eating food;
• readings from sacred books;
• listening to a talk or sermon;
• the construction of temples or shrines;
• the creation of idols of the deity.
• private acts of devotion

These elements may be practiced by all the worshipers, or by a designated leader.

Adoration versus veneration

Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy distinguish between adoration or latria (Latin adoratio, Greek latreia, 1), which is due to God alone, and veneration or dulia (Latin veneratio, Greek douleia 2), which may be lawfully offered to the saints. The external acts of veneration resemble those of worship, but differ in their object and intent. Protestant Christians question whether such a distinction is always maintained in actual devotional practice, especially at the level of folk religion.

According to Mark Miravelle, the English word "worship" is equivocal, in that it has been used in Catholic writing, at any rate, to denote both adoration/latria and veneration/dulia, and in some cases even to as a synonym for veneration as distinct from adoration: