idolatry
/ʌɪˈdɒlətri
/noun [mass noun]
1The worship of idols.It is the difference between pagan idolatry and true worship of our Creator and Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ....
- Idols are worshipped by various religions, while idolatry is blasphemy to others.
- Worship in truth is the antidote to idolatry, while worship in spirit is the antidote to hypocrisy.
Synonyms
idol worship, idolatrism, fetishism, iconolatry, icon worship;
paganism, heathenism, heresy, sacrilege, ungodliness
1.1Extreme admiration, love, or reverence for something or someone: we must not allow our idolatry of art to obscure issues of political significance...
- Women, especially, but men too, are often tempted by a kind of self-immolating romance that is much closer to idolatry than to real love.
- Condemning the ‘modern idolatry of lust, greed, power and pride’, Dr Hope said a safe and secure world would only result if humans engaged in the challenge to look again at the way we live our lives.
- NME went so far as to imply that you'd better catch The Vines before frontman Craig Nicholls took his Kurt Cobain idolatry to its logical extreme.
Synonyms
idolization, idolizing, fetishization, worship, worshipping, adulation, adoration, adoring, reverence, glorification, lionizing, lionization, love, admiration, loving, admiring, hero-worshipping
Origin
Middle English: from Old French idolatrie, based on Greek eidōlolatreia, from eidōlon (see idol) + -latreia 'worship'.