Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Worship of idols.
  • noun Blind or excessive devotion to something.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The worship of idols or images; more generally, the paying of divine honors to any created object; the ascription of divine power to natural agencies
  • noun Immoderate veneration or love for any person or thing; admiration bordering on adoration.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The worship of idols, images, or anything which is not God; the worship of false gods.
  • noun Excessive attachment or veneration for anything; respect or love which borders on adoration.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The worship of idols.
  • noun The admiration of somebody or something.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the worship of idols; the worship of images that are not God
  • noun religious zeal; the willingness to serve God

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English idolatrie, from Old French, from Latin īdōlolatrīa, from Greek eidōlolatreiā : eidōlon, idol; see idol + latreiā, service.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French idolatrie, ydolatrie, from Late Latin īdōlatrīa, from Ecclesiastical Latin īdōlolatrīa, from Ancient Greek εἰδωλολατρία (eidōlolatria, "worship of idols"), back-formation from εἰδωλολάτρης (eidōlolatrēs) (īdōlatra in Latin), from εἴδωλον (eidōlon, "idol") + λάτρις (latris, "worshipper") or λατρεύω (latreuō, "I worship"), from λάτρον (latron, "payment"); cognate with modern French idolâtrie, Italian idolatria, Occitan ydolatria, and Spanish idolatria.

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Examples

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  • wrath, anger, jealousy

    July 23, 2009