Crossword clues for iconoclasm
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Iconoclasm \I*con"o*clasm\, n. [Cf. F. iconoclasme. See Iconoclast.] The doctrine or practice of the iconoclasts; image breaking.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1797 in reference to breaking of idols; 1858 in reference to beliefs, institutions, etc.; see iconoclast + -ism.
Wiktionary
n. The belief in, participation in, or sanction of destroying religious icons and other symbols or monuments, usually with religious or political motives.
WordNet
n. the orientation of an iconoclast
Wikipedia
Iconoclasm is the destruction of religious icons and other images or monuments for religious or political motives. Over time, the word, usually in the adjectival form, has also come to refer to aggressive statements or actions against any well-established status quo. It is a frequent component of major political or religious changes. The term does not generally encompass the specific destruction of images of a ruler after his death or overthrow ( damnatio memoriae).
People who engage in or support iconoclasm are called iconoclasts, a term that has come to be applied figuratively to any individual who challenges "cherished beliefs or venerated institutions on the grounds that they are erroneous or pernicious". Conversely, one who reveres or venerates religious images is called (by iconoclasts) an iconolater; in a Byzantine context, such a person is called an iconodule or iconophile.
Iconoclasm may be carried out by people of a different religion, but is often the result of sectarian disputes between factions of the same religion. In Christianity, iconoclasm has generally been motivated by people who adopt a literal interpretation of the Ten Commandments, which forbid the making and worshipping of "graven images or any likeness of anything". The Church Fathers identified Jews and Judaism with heresy. They saw deviations from orthodox Christianity and opposition to the veneration of images as heresies that were essentially "Jewish in spirit". The degree of iconoclasm among Christian branches greatly varies. Islam, in general, tends to be more iconoclastic than Christianity, with Sunni Islam being more iconoclastic than Shia Islam.
Usage examples of "iconoclasm".
There, distinctive subcultures of defeat emerged, shocking yet mesmerizing symbols of the collapse of the old order and the emergence of a new spirit of iconoclasm and self-reliance.
The point is not complicated, only generally neglected: renovation and iconoclasm were strains as deeply imbedded in consciousness as were reverence for the past or acquiescence to the powers that be.
I realized that he was doing it deliberately, and in our interests: Without that iconoclasm we would be lost in idolatry.
We had several classes together and I was impressed by his nervous high-speed humor, his iconoclasm, the way he turned familiar ideas around and gave fresh meaning to them without necessarily believing his own version more than the original.
There had been a moment or two when he almost became convinced that he might be wrong in his attitude and he wondered whether in his iconoclasm he was being honest with himself or if it was just a way for him to get attention.
In their disillusionment, Quebec voters turned in 1962 to the political iconoclasm of Social Credit, and in 1963, back to the Liberal Party.
Knowing she might have to pay dearly for her idle iconoclasm, she invented a cosmic theory of life and the world that allowed them to talk without quarreling.
He noted, in the postwar analyses of ex-Nazis, that the longer they searched for something to erect from the ruins of their lives having lived through a period of classical iconoclasm, and then seen their new ideals topple as well the longer they searched, the further back they seemed to reach into the collective unconscious of their people.
To tamper with such a work of genius would be nothing less than iconoclasm, in my humble opinion.
But as anyone not blindly hostile to the very concept of herohood must acknowledge, my version had the ring of authentic mythopoeia, hers the clatter of mere scurrilous iconoclasm.