i·dol·a·try

(ī-dŏl′ə-trē)

n. pl. i·dol·a·tries

1. Worship of idols.

2. Blind or excessive devotion to something.

[Middle English idolatrie, from Old French, from Latin īdōlolatrīa, from Greek eidōlolatreiā : eidōlon, idol; see idol + latreiā, service.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

idolatry

(aɪˈdɒlətrɪ)

1. (Theology) the worship of idols

2. great devotion or reverence

iˈdolater, iˈdolator n

iˈdolatress fem n

iˈdolatrous adj

iˈdolatrously adv

iˈdolatrousness n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

i•dol•a•try

(aɪˈdɒl ə tri)

n., pl. -tries.

1. the religious worship of idols.

2. excessive admiration or devotion.

[1200–50; Middle English < Medieval Latin īdōlatrīa]

Idolatry

idols and other similar things and objects collectively.

Example: idolatries of the heathen, 1671.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	idolatry - religious zeal; the willingness to serve God cultism, veneration, devotion worship - the activity of worshipping Bible-worship, bibliolatry - the worship of the Bible grammatolatry, verbolatry, word-worship - the worship of words symbolatry, symbololatry, symbol-worship - the worship of symbols anthropolatry, worship of man - the worship of human beings gynaeolatry, gyneolatry, woman-worship - the worship of women lordolatry - the worship of a lord because of his rank or title miracle-worship, thaumatolatry - the worship of miracles place-worship, topolatry - the worship of places
	2.	idolatry - the worship of idols; the worship of images that are not God idol worship worship - the activity of worshipping iconolatry - the worship of sacred images

idolatry

noun

1. idol worshipping, fetishism Idolatry was punishable by death.

2. adoration, adulation, hero worship, apotheosis, exaltation, glorification, idolizing, deification Their affection soon increased to almost idolatry.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Translations

حُب أعْمى إلى درجة العِبادَهعِبادَة الأوْثان او الأصْنام

modlářstvíuctívání

afgudsdyrkelsetilbedelse

GötzendienstIdolatrieVergötterung

idolâtrie

bálványimádásbálványozás

dÿrkun; tilbeiîslaskurîgoîadÿrkun

idolatria

avgudsdyrking

modlárstvo

puta tapmaputperestliktaparcasına sevmetapma

偶像崇拜盲目崇拜

idolatry

[aɪˈdɒlətrɪ] N → idolatría f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

idolatry

[aɪˈdɒlətri] n

(= excessive admiration) → idolâtrie f

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

idolatry

n (lit) → Götzendienst m, → Götzenverehrung f; (fig) → Vergötterung f, → abgöttische Verehrung

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

idolatry

[aɪˈdɒlətrɪ] n (old) → idolatria

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

idol

(ˈaidl) noun

1. an image of a god, which is worshipped. The tribesmen bowed down before their idol.

2. a greatly loved person, thing etc. The singer was the idol of thousands of teenagers.

idolatry (aiˈdolətri) noun

1. the worship of idols.

2. too great admiration, especially of a person.

iˈdolatrous adjective

iˈdolatrously adverb

ˈidolize, ˈidolise verb

to love or admire a person etc greatly or too much. She idolized her older brother.

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Mr Allworthy answered to all this, and much more, which the captain had urged on this subject, "That, however guilty the parents might be, the children were certainly innocent: that as to the texts he had quoted, the former of them was a particular denunciation against the Jews, for the sin of idolatry, of relinquishing and hating their heavenly King; and the latter was parabolically spoken, and rather intended to denote the certain and necessary consequences of sin, than any express judgment against it.

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He told me he would use the same freedom and plainness in the second, and hoped I would take it as well; and this was, that notwithstanding these English subjects of mine, as he called them, had lived with these women almost seven years, had taught them to speak English, and even to read it, and that they were, as he perceived, women of tolerable understanding, and capable of instruction, yet they had not, to this hour, taught them anything of the Christian religion--no, not so much as to know there was a God, or a worship, or in what manner God was to be served, or that their own idolatry, and worshipping they knew not whom, was false and absurd.

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We never cared any thing about ice-cream at home, but we look upon it with a sort of idolatry now that it is so scarce in these red-hot climates of the East.

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If she had any sense of humour, it must amuse her that he should place her on a pedestal and worship her with such an honest idolatry, but even while she laughed she must have been pleased and touched.

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But even at an earlier age I no longer worshipped at a single shrine; there were many gods in the temple of my idolatry, and I bowed the knee to them all in a devotion which, if it was not of one quality, was certainly impartial.

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Perchance he has destined us to deliver the children from the more cruel bondage of ignorance and idolatry. Chiefly for this end, it may be, we were directed across the ocean."

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If I doubted, should I cast away relatives, friends, everything, for this unhappy country's sake; this unhappy country,' he cried, springing up in bed, after repeating the phrase 'unhappy country's sake' to himself, at least a dozen times, 'forsaken of God and man, delivered over to a dangerous confederacy of Popish powers; the prey of corruption, idolatry, and despotism!

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I grew afraid that others would know of my idolatry. I felt, Dorian, that I had told too much, that I had put too much of myself into it.

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Put me in mind, Louisa, to lend him the homily ‘against peril of idolatry,’ at his next visit.”

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Her sex once ascertained, their idolatry was changed into contempt and there was no end to the contumely showered upon her by the savages, who were exasperated at the deception which they conceived had been practised upon them.

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Welland was the central object of their idolatry, it never occurred to his wife and May to let him go to St.

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D'Artagnan found Porthos in the adjoining chamber; but no longer an irritated Porthos, or a disappointed Porthos, but Porthos radiant, blooming, fascinating, and chattering with Moliere, who was looking upon him with a species of idolatry, and as a man would who had not only never seen anything greater, but not even ever anything so great.

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