IDOLATRY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does idolatry mean? 

• IDOLATRY (noun)
  The noun IDOLATRY has 1 sense:

1. the worship of idols; the worship of physical objects or images as gods

  Familiarity information: IDOLATRY used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• IDOLATRY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The worship of idols; the worship of physical objects or images as gods

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

idol worship; idolatry

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

worship (the activity of worshipping)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "idolatry"):

iconolatry (the worship of sacred images)

Bible-worship; bibliolatry (the worship of the Bible)

grammatolatry; verbolatry; word-worship (the worship of words)

symbol-worship; symbolatry; symbololatry (the worship of symbols)

Derivation:

idolater (a person who worships idols)

idolatrous (relating to or practicing idolatry)

 Context examples 

Love was above all earthly considerations, and I loved Dora to idolatry, and Dora loved me.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

My answer was, that we were overstocked with books of travels: that nothing could now pass which was not extraordinary; wherein I doubted some authors less consulted truth, than their own vanity, or interest, or the diversion of ignorant readers; that my story could contain little beside common events, without those ornamental descriptions of strange plants, trees, birds, and other animals; or of the barbarous customs and idolatry of savage people, with which most writers abound.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)