Oh it most certainly does. Actions truly do speak louder than words.
>>We hold them to the meaning of the word ‘venerate’.<<
The word comes from the original Latin veneratus, past participle of venerari "to reverence, worship". The Latin lexicon has to reverence with religious awe, to worship, adore, revere, venerate.
You are right in that words mean something. But not as much as the actions one witnesses. I would be hard pressed to agree with a man who says he loves his wife but the beatings she endures by his hand says otherwise.
English is not Latin. The meaning in English is all that matters. If they say “venerate”, then no one can squeeze by its meaning in English. We speak English here.