misvenerate

misvenerate means to venerate something or someone that does not deserve it. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 95 out of 100.

Why “misvenerate” is a great word

MISVENERATE — [Verb] To bestow reverential respect upon an object or person fundamentally unworthy of such honor. From the prefix mis- (expressing error, fault, or wrongness) + the verb venerate (from Latin veneratus, past participle of venerari, meaning to regard with reverential respect). Unlike idolize, which may imply a fervent but not necessarily mistaken devotion, or revere, which presumes an inherent worthiness in the subject, to misvenerate is to commit a specific error of judgment, conferring sacred esteem upon the profane. It is the dutiful polishing of a tyrant’s statue, the hushed pilgrimage to a site of fabricated miracles, or the careful preservation of a forged relic in a velvet-lined reliquary—the quiet tragedy of building shrines where there should only be silent, unmarked ground.

Etymology

From mis- + venerate.

verb

To venerate something or someone that does not deserve it.“Images were surely often misread — and misvenerated — and by the sixteenth century reformers were all too ready to exploit such mistakes.”