iconoclast

American  

[ahy-kon-uh-klast] / aɪˈkɒn əˌklæst /

noun

1. a person who attacks cherished beliefs, traditional institutions, etc., as being based on error or superstition.

   Synonyms:

   radical, dissenter, rebel, nonconformist

2. a breaker or destroyer of images, especially those set up for religious veneration.

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iconoclast British  

/ aɪˈkɒnəˌklæst /

noun

1. a person who attacks established or traditional concepts, principles, laws, etc

2. 1. a destroyer of religious images or sacred objects

   2. an adherent of the heretical movement within the Greek Orthodox Church from 725 to 842 _ad , which aimed at the destruction of icons and religious images

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Other Word Forms

• iconoclastic
  adjective
• iconoclastically
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of iconoclast

1590–1600; < Medieval Latin īconoclastēs < Medieval Greek eikonoklástēs, equivalent to Greek eikono- icono- + -klastēs breaker, equivalent to klas- (variant stem of klân to break) + -tēs agent noun suffix

Explanation

Are you always challenging the establishment? Or provoking popular thought by attacking traditions and institutions? Then you're definitely an iconoclast. To be called an iconoclast today is usually kind of cool — they're rugged individualists, bold thinkers who don't give a hoot what tradition calls for. But back in medieval Greece, the iconoclasts had a more thuggish reputation. Stemming from the Greek words eikon, meaning "image," and klastes, meaning "breaker," an iconoclast was someone who destroyed religious sculptures and paintings.

Example Sentences

Robertson sold his music publishing, recorded interests and rights to his name, image and likeness for a reported $25 million to Iconoclast in 2022.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 9, 2023

Cohen came up with the word for the season seven episode "Lisa the Iconoclast," where Ms. Hoover tells Mrs. Krabappel that the slightly less fictitious "embiggen" is a "perfectly cromulent" word.

From Salon • Sep. 13, 2021

“Suga is all about the details,” says Tobias Harris, author of a biography of Abe, The Iconoclast.

From Slate • Oct. 28, 2020

Martinson was an organizer for the League; before that, he had edited a socialist newspaper called The Iconoclast.

From New York Times • Jul. 26, 2018

The reigns of the Moor, the Iconoclast, and, finally, the Inquisitor, have left little that dates before the fourteenth century.

From A Text-Book of the History of Painting by Van Dyke, John Charles