iconoclasm

Noun

iconoclasm (countable and uncountable, plural iconoclasms)

1. The belief in, participation in, or sanction of destroying religious icons and other symbols or monuments, usually with religious or political motives.
   • Finally, “iconoclasm” is a form of desecration and shares its general intention to deny the sacred qualities of an image and to demonstrate that it has no power, to prevent it from being treated as an idol or a rival to God.¹⁴ But not all forms of desecration constitute iconoclasm, though...2024, Katherine Aron-Beller, Christian Images and Their Jewish Desecrators: The History of an Allegation, 400–1700, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, →ISBN, page 8

   Synonyms:

   iconomachy, idoloclasm

   Antonyms:

   iconodulism, iconoduly, iconoplasm

2. (figuratively) A challenge to a widely held belief, tradition or cherished institution.