bibliolatry means excessive admiration for a book. It carries an Arena rating of 1574, earned across 15 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, bibliolatry ranks #1,398 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words, #1,548 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words, #3,545 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #4,929 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words.
Why “bibliolatry” is a great word
Excessive reverence for or worship of a book, especially the Bible, often characterized by a literalistic interpretation. From the combining form biblio- (from Greek biblion, "book") and -latry (from Greek -latreia, "worship"); first attested in English in 1763. Unlike bibliophilia (a collector's or reader's joyful, secular devotion to books as objects) or exegesis (a scholar's critical interpretation of a text), bibliolatry is an uncritical devotion that mistakes the vessel for the spirit within. It is the scent of aging leather mistaken for sanctity, the blind veneration of the ink-stained page over the living word, and the quiet heresy of preferring the map to the territory—a testament to the human need to hold the infinite within a bound and finite form.
Etymology
From biblio- + -latry.
noun
- Excessive admiration for a book.
- Specifically, excessive reverence for, or worship of, the Bible or Qur'an, especially as taken literally.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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