The Greek deisidaimonesteros is the comparative form of deisidaimon, meaning more religious, more reverential toward divine powers — or, depending on context, more superstitious. It carries an intentional ambiguity that Paul exploits with great rhetorical skill.
Deisidaimonesteros appears in Acts 17:22, Paul's address on the Areopagus in Athens — one of the greatest speeches in the New Testament. 'Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious (deisidaimonesteros).' The word is brilliantly chosen: to a Greek audience, it could sound like a compliment (you are admirably devout); the same word could mean superstitious. Paul uses this ambiguity as a bridge — he acknowledges their genuine religious impulse (the altar to 'an Unknown God') as a God-shaped hole he can now fill with the gospel. This is a master class in contextual apologetics: not condemning pagan religion wholesale but finding in it the unconscious reaching toward the God who made them and who now calls all people everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30).