idolatry

idolatry

English

Alternative forms

• idololatry (rare)

Etymology

From Middle English ydolatrie, from Old French idolatrie, from Late Latin īdōlatrīa, from Ecclesiastical 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, “I worship”), from λάτρον (látron, “payment”). Cognate with Modern French idolâtrie, Italian idolatria, Occitan ydolatria, Portuguese idolatria, and Spanish idolatría. Displaced native Old English dēofolġield (literally “devil worship”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /aɪˈdɒl.ə.tɹiː/
• (US) enPR: ī-dŏ'lə-trē, IPA^(key): /aɪˈdɑ.lə.tɹi/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

idolatry (countable and uncountable, plural idolatries)

1. The worship of idols.
   • 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide

     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.

2. The excessive admiration of somebody or something.

Synonyms

• adoration
• reverence
• worship

Related terms

• idol
• idolater
• idolatrise, idolatrize
• idolatrous
• idolatrously
• -latry

Translations

worship of idols

Albanian: idhujtari (sq) f Arabic: وَثَنِيَّة‎ f (waṯaniyya) Armenian: կռապաշտություն (hy) (kṙapaštutʿyun) Azerbaijani: bütpərəstlik (az) Belarusian: ідалапакло́нства n (idalapaklónstva), балвахва́льства n (balvaxválʹstva) Bengali: মূর্তিপূজা (mūrtipūja) Bulgarian: идолопокло́нничество n (idolopoklónničestvo), идолопокло́нство n (idolopoklónstvo) Catalan: idolatria (ca) f Chinese: Mandarin: 偶像崇拜 (ǒuxiàng chóngbài) Czech: modlářství, modloslužebnictví n, idolatrie f Danish: afgudsdyrkelse c Dutch: afgoderij (nl) f Estonian: ebajumalakummardamine Finnish: epäjumalanpalvonta, idolatria (fi), kuvainpalvonta French: idolâtrie (fr) f Georgian: კერპთაყვანისმცემლობა (ḳerṗtaq̇vanismcemloba), კერპთმსახურება (ḳerṗtmsaxureba) German: Abgötterei (de) f, Götzendienerei f, Götzendienst m, Götzenglaube m, Götzenverehrung f, Idolatrie (de) f, Ikonodulie (de) f, Vergötterung f, Bilderanbetung f, Bilderdienst m, Bilderverehrung f Greek: ειδωλολατρία (el) f (eidololatría) Ancient: εἰδωλολατρία f (eidōlolatría) Greenlandic: guutipilussiorneq Hebrew: עֲבוֹדָה זָרָה‎ (he) f (avodá zará), עֲבוֹדַת אֱלִילִים‎ (he) f (avodát elilím) Hindi: मूर्तिपूजा f (mūrtipūjā) Hungarian: bálványimádás (hu) Icelandic: skurðgoðadýrkun f Irish: íolacht f, íoladhradh m Italian: idolatria (it) f Japanese: 偶像崇拝 (ぐうぞうすうはい, gūzō sūhai) Kazakh: пұтқа табынушылық (pūtqa tabynuşylyq) Korean: 우상숭배(偶像崇拜) (usangsungbae) Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: pûtperestî (ku), pûtparêzî (ku) Kyrgyz: бутпарастык (ky) (butparastık) Latvian: elku pielūgšana f Lithuanian: stabmeldystė f Macedonian: идолопоклонство n (idolopoklonstvo) Manx: jalloonys m Middle English: mawmetrie, ydolatrie Norwegian: Bokmål: avgudsdyrkelse m Occitan: idolatria f Old English: dēofolġield n Pashto: بت پرستي‎ (ps) f (bot-parastī) Persian: بت‌پرستی‎ (bot-parasti) Polish: bałwochwalstwo (pl) n, idolatria (pl) f, idololatria (pl) f Portuguese: idolatria (pt) f Romanian: idolatrie (ro) f Russian: идолопокло́нство (ru) n (idolopoklónstvo), идолопокло́нничество (ru) n (idolopoklónničestvo) Sanskrit: प्रतिमापूजा (sa) f (pratimāpūjā) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: идолопокло́нство n Roman: idolopoklónstvo (sh) n Slovak: modlárstvo n, modloslužobníctvo n, idolatria f, modloslužba f Slovene: idolatrija f Spanish: idolatría (es) f Swedish: idoldyrkan c, idolatri (sv) c, bilddyrkan c Tajik: бутпарастӣ (butparastī) Telugu: విగ్రహారాధన (te) (vigrahārādhana) Thai: การบูชาเทวรูป (gaan-buu-chaa-tee-wá-rûup) Turkish: putperestlik (tr) Turkmen: butparazlyk (tk) Ukrainian: ідолопокло́нство n (idolopoklónstvo), ідолові́рство n (idolovírstvo) Urdu: بُت پَرَسْتی‎ f (but-parastī) Uyghur: بۇتپەرەسلىك‎ (butpereslik) Uzbek: butparastlik (uz) Vietnamese: thờ ngẫu tượng Welsh: delw-addoliad m, delw-addoliaeth f

excessive admiration

Bulgarian: обожа́ние (bg) n (obožánie) Finnish: ihannointi (fi) German: Vergötterung f, Bewunderung (de) f Hebrew: הערצה‎ (he) f, סגידה‎ (he) f Hungarian: bálványozás (hu) Macedonian: обожување n (obožuvanje), боготворење n (bogotvorenje) Middle English: mawmetrie Occitan: idolatria Polish: ubóstwianie (pl) n, bałwochwalstwo (pl) n Portuguese: idolatria (pt) f, veneração (pt) f Russian: обожа́ние (ru) n (obožánije), боготворе́ние n (bogotvorénije), поклоне́ние (ru) n (poklonénije), обожествле́ние (ru) n (obožestvlénije)

Further reading

• Wikipedia article on idolatry

Anagrams

• adroitly, dilatory