a profound reverence for great people or their memory.
extravagant or excessive admiration for a personal hero.
admiration for heroes or idealized persons
worship by the ancient Greeks and Romans of heroes
First recorded in 1765–75
First recorded in 1880–85
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The Emergency was also a stark warning against the perils of hero worship - something embodied in the towering political persona of Indira Gandhi.
From BBC • Jun. 24, 2025
A fitting coda to a childish slog of hero worship.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 30, 2024
“My intention throughout,” he writes, “has been to avoid hagiography and hero worship, telling Lewis’s full story with all its ups and downs intact.”
From Seattle Times • Feb. 26, 2024
Viewers are no longer interested in the patriotic, individualistic hero worship à la Captain America.
From Salon • Nov. 27, 2023
They help us to peel back some of the layers of legend and hero worship that obscure the whole story of American history.
From "In the Shadow of Liberty" by Kenneth C. Davis
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.
