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IDOL
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I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A material effigy that is worshipped
Example:
money was his god
Synonyms:
god; graven image; idol
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("idol" is a kind of...):
effigy; image; simulacrum (a representation of a person (especially in the form of sculpture))
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "idol"):
golden calf ((Old Testament) an idol made by Aaron for the Israelites to worship; destroyed by Moses; it is now used to refer to anything worshipped undeservedly)
joss (a Chinese god worshipped in the form of an idol)
Juggernaut (a crude idol of Krishna)
Derivation:
idolise; idolize (love unquestioningly and uncritically or to excess; venerate as an idol)
Sense 2
Meaning:
An ideal instance; a perfect embodiment of a concept
Synonyms:
beau ideal; idol; paragon; perfection
Classified under:
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents
Hypernyms ("idol" is a kind of...):
ideal (the idea of something that is perfect; something that one hopes to attain)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "idol"):
gold standard (a paragon of excellence)
Derivation:
idolise; idolize (love unquestioningly and uncritically or to excess; venerate as an idol)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Someone who is adored blindly and excessively
Synonyms:
idol; matinee idol
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("idol" is a kind of...):
lead; principal; star (an actor who plays a principal role)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "idol"):
heartthrob (an object of infatuation)
Derivation:
idolise; idolize (love unquestioningly and uncritically or to excess; venerate as an idol)
Context examples:
Next day, having seen both the old and young gentleman out of the house, Beth, after two or three retreats, fairly got in at the side door, and made her way as noiselessly as any mouse to the drawing room where her idol stood.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
“Tom” was evidently the idol of her life; never to be shaken on his pedestal by any commotion; always to be believed in, and done homage to with the whole faith of her heart, come what might.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
I was sure St. John Rivers—pure-lived, conscientious, zealous as he was—had not yet found that peace of God which passeth all understanding: he had no more found it, I thought, than had I with my concealed and racking regrets for my broken idol and lost elysium—regrets to which I have latterly avoided referring, but which possessed me and tyrannised over me ruthlessly.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Not one whole or handsome one among them, all were outcasts till Beth took them in, for when her sisters outgrew these idols, they passed to her because Amy would have nothing old or ugly.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
But by-and-by, when the teething worry was over and the idols went to sleep at proper hours, leaving Mamma time to rest, she began to miss John, and find her workbasket dull company, when he was not sitting opposite in his old dressing gown, comfortably scorching his slippers on the fender.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
The room, shadowed well with awnings, was dark and cool. Daisy and Jordan lay upon an enormous couch, like silver idols, weighing down their own white dresses against the singing breeze of the fans.
(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)
