Nearby Words

iconoclast

[ahy-kon-uh-klast] Origin

i·con·o·clast

[ahy-kon-uh-klast]
noun
1.
a person who attacks cherished beliefs, traditional institutions, etc., as being based on error or superstition.
2.
a breaker or destroyer of images, especially those set up for religious veneration.

Origin:
1590–1600; < Medieval Latin īconoclastēs < Medieval Greek eikonoklástēs, equivalent to Greek eikono- icono- + -klastēs breaker, equivalent to klas- (variant stem of klân to break) + -tēs agent noun suffix

i·con·o·clas·tic, adjective


2. nonconformist, rebel, dissenter, radical.

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Iconoclast is a GRE word you need to know.
So is gullible. Does it mean:
easily deceived or cheated
vilify
Collins
World English Dictionary
iconoclast (aɪˈkɒnəˌklæst)
 
n
1.  a person who attacks established or traditional concepts, principles, laws, etc
2.  a.  a destroyer of religious images or sacred objects
 b.  an adherent of the heretical movement within the Greek Orthodox Church from 725 to 842 ad, which aimed at the destruction of icons and religious images
 
[C16: from Late Latin iconoclastes, from Late Greek eikonoklastes, from eikōn icon + klastēs breaker]
 
icono'clastic
 
adj
 
icono'clastically
 
adv

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

iconoclast
"breaker or destroyer of images," 1596, from Fr. iconoclaste, from M.L. iconoclastes, from Late Gk. eikonoklastes, from eikon (gen. eikonos) "image" + klastes "breaker," from klas- pt. stem of klan "to break." Originally those in the Eastern Church in 8c. and 9c. whose mobs of followers destroyed icons
EXPAND
and other religious objects on the grounds that they were idols. Applied to 16c.-17c. Protestants in Netherlands who vandalized former Catholic churches on similar grounds. Extended sense of "one who attacks orthodox beliefs or institutions" is first attested 1842. Iconoclasm in this sense is from 1858.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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