hero-worship

He objects to the unthinking hero worship of great athletes by their fans.
once the object of uncritical hero worship, the aging quarterback now faces the derision of his team's fickle fans

Recent Examples of hero worship from the Web

While Brennan did not cite any evidence, Trump's warm relationship with Putin is a puzzle and at times has verged on hero worship -- even as US-Russia relations have plummeted.

— stephen collinson, CNN, "Is Trump's silence on Putin, Daniels telling?," 27 Mar. 2018
Dawn’s hero worship of Bill is complicated by their having slept together.

— ben brantley, New York Times, "Review: Chris Evans and Michael Cera Tell Lies to Live by in ‘Lobby Hero’," 26 Mar. 2018
There’s a scene in which the character is wheeled onto the ice before a Bruins game, where the crowd smothers him with hero worship.

— a.o. scott & wesley morris, New York Times, "The 10 Best Actors of the Year," 7 Dec. 2017
But dialogue about his hero worship only feels like lip service to positive beliefs that Justice League's creators don't know how to effectively dramatize.

— simon abrams, The Hollywood Reporter, "Why Can't Anyone Get Superman Right?," 19 Nov. 2017
Whether out of despair, hero worship or budding ideological conviction, Pema makes up her mind to leave home and join Choeden and others on a long walk to freedom.

— deborah young, The Hollywood Reporter, "'Barley Fields on the Other Side of the Mountain': Film Review | Mumbai 2017," 23 Oct. 2017
Many critics loved the movie, praising Aronofsky's directorial prowess and the movie's layered and dense subtext that comments on subjects as wide-ranging as love, sacrifice, organized religion and hero worship.

— patrick cooley, cleveland.com, "'Mother!' is so controversial Paramount had to defend its decision to release the movie," 18 Sep. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'hero worship.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.