idolatry

/aɪˈdɒl.ə.tɹi/

Etymology

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”).

idolatry means the worship of idols. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 73 out of 100.

idolatry is pronounced /aɪˈdɒl.ə.tɹi/.

Why “idolatry” is a great word

IDOLATRY — [Noun] The worship of idols or the excessive devotion directed toward a person or thing as though it were a deity. From Middle English ydolatrie, from Old French idolatrie, from Ecclesiastical Latin īdōlatrīa, from Late Latin īdōlolatrīa, from Ancient Greek εἰδωλολατρίᾱ (eidōlolatríā, "worship of idols"), from εἴδωλον (eídōlon, "idol, image") + λάτρις (látris, "worshipper") or λατρεύω (latreúō, "to worship"). Unlike veneration, which implies a respectful reverence that stops short of deification, or iconoclasm, which is the militant smashing of images, idolatry is the silent, willing substitution of the effigy for the essence. It is the gilt statue in a shadowed niche, the stadium chanting a single name, and the cold weight of a golden calf in the desert sun—a testament to the human compulsion to mistake the vessel for the source, and in doing so, to hollow out the very concept of the sacred.

noun

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.”
The excessive admiration of somebody or something.