ICONOCLAST

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does iconoclast mean? 

• ICONOCLAST (noun)
  The noun ICONOCLAST has 2 senses:

1. a destroyer of images used in religious worship

2. someone who attacks cherished ideas or traditional institutions

  Familiarity information: ICONOCLAST used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ICONOCLAST (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A destroyer of images used in religious worship

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

iconoclast; image breaker

Hypernyms ("iconoclast" is a kind of...):

destroyer; ruiner; undoer; uprooter; waster (a person who destroys or ruins or lays waste to)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Someone who attacks cherished ideas or traditional institutions

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("iconoclast" is a kind of...):

aggressor; assailant; assaulter; attacker (someone who attacks)

 Context examples 

Considering how many hundreds of statues of the great Emperor must exist in London, it is too much to suppose such a coincidence as that a promiscuous iconoclast should chance to begin upon three specimens of the same bust.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)