iconoclasm
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of iconoclasm
1790–1800; iconocl(ast) + -asm on model of such pairs as enthusiast: enthusiasm
Vocabulary lists containing iconoclasm
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.
Iconoclasm is the author’s default sensibility and not only with respect to the economics profession.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 12, 2025
Iconoclasm, he said, always brought with it ostracism — revolutionary ideas took time to catch on.
From New York Times • Aug. 20, 2020
Iconoclasm also lent itself to what would eventually become a permanent split between the eastern and western churches – Orthodoxy and Catholicism.
From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2020
Iconoclasm is likely as old as the species, and certainly as old as the invention of religion.
From Washington Post • Aug. 6, 2015
Origin of Image-worship.—Inutility of Images discovered in Asia and Africa during the Saracen Wars.—Rise of Iconoclasm.
From History of the Intellectual Development of Europe, Volume I (of 2) Revised Edition by Draper, John William
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.
