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.
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
At some point before contact with Christians, ancestor worship was replaced by a religion centered around a “birdman.”
From Washington Times • Oct. 7, 2022
Tempels rejected the characterization of African philosophy and theology as consisting of magic, animism, and ancestor worship, instead exploring the richness of Bantu thought pertaining to individuals, society, and the divine.
From Textbooks • Jun. 15, 2022
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.
