idolatry

noun idol·a·try \ ī-ˈdä-lə-trē \

Updated on: 13 Apr 2018

plural idolatries

1 : the worship of a physical object as a god

2 : immoderate attachment or devotion to something

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Examples of idolatry in a Sentence

her idolatry of her favorite rock star is one step removed from stalking

Recent Examples of idolatry from the Web

Lutherans like Bach certainly would have condemned as a grievous sin of idolatry any notion that the essence of a piece of music is, or turns into, the essence of God.

— michael marissen, New York Times, "Bach Was Far More Religious Than You Might Think," 30 Mar. 2018
American women glamorize French women to the point of idolatry.

— maura walters, Marie Claire, "4 French Women on How They Really Feel About Aging," 20 Mar. 2018
She was constantly confronted by the figure of her sister Diana, a political extremist who possessed an otherworldly power of commanding idolatry.

— laura thompson, New York Times, "In a New Biography of the Bouvier Women, Jealousies Rule," 20 Feb. 2018
The plaudits traveled past genuflecting and exited somewhere a couple of miles before idolatry.

— richard deitsch, SI.com, "Media Circus: How Critical Will ESPN Be of Jon Gruden’s Coaching Tenure With the Raiders?," 7 Jan. 2018
The idolatry of experimentation has even spawned a sinister, for-profit industry, lurking in the shadows of the FDA approval process.

— daniel engber, Slate Magazine, "Charlie Gard’s saga exposed a flaw in our perception of medicine: We are too quick to think new treatments will work.," 25 July 2017
In the meantime, secular liberal folk in the rest of the country who can’t imagine anyone liking, much less loving, Donald Trump should tune into this campaign, where his greatness is worshiped to the point of idolatry.

— ed kilgore, Daily Intelligencer, "The Moore-Strange Debate: An Angry God Versus Donald J. Trump," 21 Sep. 2017
But with his jazz-hands dance moves, gym-class cluelessness, fey mannerisms, and full-out idolatry of Diana Ross, Trevor's got FRESH VICTIM written all over him.

— tony adler, Chicago Reader, "Trevor: The Musical—the best After School Special you'll ever see," 23 Aug. 2017
Even despite an enormity of fame and global idolatry almost incomprehensible in a modern, Twitter-riddled world, Elvis remained unceasingly authentic.

— kostya kennedy, Time, "He’ll Always Be Elvis: Remembering the 'King' 40 Years On," 22 July 2017

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

Origin and Etymology of idolatry

Middle English ydolatrie, from Anglo-French, from Medieval Latin idolatria, alteration of Late Latin idololatria, from Greek eidōlolatreia, from eidōlon idol + -latreia -latry

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First Known Use: 13th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1

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