ancestor worship
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of ancestor worship
First recorded in 1850–55
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Eight of out 10 of Sumba's population of 685,000 people are Christian, but its older "marapu" belief system, that blends animism and ancestor worship, has deep roots.
From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026
Historically, you might say we are a religion of ancestor worship.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 11, 2025
From around 1640, as part of a push to ban Christianity, temples kept family registries of people in the neighborhood, creating a tradition of ancestor worship still observed today.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 4, 2023
Victorious armies followed the precedent set by the early Zhou conquerors, sparing aristocratic leaders in order to maintain lines of kinship and preserve an heir who would perform rites of ancestor worship.
From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023
Her shelf had to do with a religion she’d made up for herself, a mixture of nature and ancestor worship.
From "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
