idolatry
UK/aɪˈdɒl.ə.tɹi//aɪˈdɑ.lə.tɹi/
idolatry noun: the worship of idols.
Noun
idolatry (countable and uncountable, plural idolatries)
- The worship of idols.
- The parish stank of idolatry, abominable rites were practiced in secret, and in all the bounds there was no one had a more evil name for the black traffic than one Alison Sempill, who bode at the Skerburnfoot.1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide
- Now the great obstacle in tracing the identity of any of the basic forms of worship lies in the vast number of names which appear in the ancient idolatries and mythologies, creating the illusion of a miscellany of gods, whereas many of these different names refer to the same deity. Thus the sun has...1941, George Ryley Scott, Phallic Worship: A History of Sex and Sex Rites in Relation to the Religions of All Races from Antiquity to the Present Day, London: T. Werner Laurie, page 20
- Synonyms:
- avodah zarah
- The excessive admiration of somebody or something.
idolatry meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
idolatry in Hindi
- worship of idols
- मूर्तिपूजा mūrtipūjā
idolatry in Tamil
- விக்கிரக ஆராதனை, விக்கிரக வணக்கம், தெய்வ பிம்பங்களை வைத்துப் பூசிக்கை, உருவ வழிபாடு செய்யும் வழக்கம், பக்தி, விசுவாசம்
idolatry in Urdu
- worship of idols
- بُت پَرَسْتی but-parastī
idolatry in Bengali
- worship of idols
- মূর্তিপূজা murtipuja
More languagesFewer languages
- idolatry in Telugu
- విగ్రహారాధన vigrahārādhana
- idolatry in Malayalam
- വിഗ്രഹാരാധന, അതിവാത്സല്യം, അത്യാദരം
- idolatry in Kannada
- ಮೂರ್ತಿಪೂಜೆ, ವಿಗ್ರಹಾರಾಧನೆ, ಅತಿಭಕ್ತಿ, ಮಿತಿಮೀರಿದ ಅಭಿಮಾನ
- idolatry in Sanskrit
- प्रतिमापूजा pratimāpūjā
- idolatry in Pashto
- بت پرستي bot-parastī
- idolatry in Arabic
- وَثَنِيَّة waṯaniyya
- idolatry in Persian
- بتپرستی bot-parasti
- idolatry in Thai
- การบูชาเทวรูป gaan-buu-chaa-tee-wá-rûup
- idolatry in Vietnamese
- thờ ngẫu tượng
Examples of idolatry in a sentence
- If this is not idolatry, then it is monarchical hero worship.
- Noaks, for his part, regarded the Duke with feelings mingled of idolatry and disapproval.
- With the term "idolatry," the "aniconists" refer to the "iconists" as the group where the strongest menace resides.
Synonyms of idolatry
Forms of idolatry
| plural | idolatries |
|---|---|
| alternative form (rare) | idololatry |
Origin of idolatry
Inherited from Middle English ydolatrie, from Old French idolatrie, from Ecclesiastical Latin īdōlatrīa, from Late Latin īdōlolatrīa, from Ancient Greek εἰδωλολατρίᾱ (eidōlolatríā, “worship of idols”), back-formation from εἰδωλολάτρης (eidōlolátrēs), from εἴδωλον (eídōlon, “idol”) & λάτρις (látris, “worshipper”) or λατρεύω (latreúō, “to worship”), from λάτρον (látron, “payment”). Equivalent to idol + -latry. Cognate with Modern French idolâtrie, Italian idolatria, Occitan ydolatria, Portuguese idolatria, and Spanish idolatría. Displaced native Old English dēofolġield (literally “devil worship”).
Words formed from idolatry
Questions about idolatry
- What does idolatry mean?
- Idolatry means the worship of idols.
- What is idolatry in Hindi?
- Idolatry in Hindi is मूर्तिपूजा (mūrtipūjā). See Idolatry meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is idolatry?
- Idolatry is a noun.
- How do you pronounce idolatry?
- Idolatry is pronounced /aɪˈdɒl.ə.tɹi/ (UK).
- What is the plural of idolatry?
- The plural of idolatry is idolatries.
Words near idolatry in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: idolatry (page history and authors); idolatry (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); idolatry (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); idolatry (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vininn126-idolatry.wav.
Cite this entry: “idolatry.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/idolatry. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.