- Today's Word
Idolatrous
eye-DOL-uh-truhs
Definition
- (adjective) Excessively devoted to or reverent toward someone or something, often to the point of worship.
Example
The fans’ idolatrous admiration for the pop star bordered on obsession.
Fun Fact
While “idolatrous” has religious origins, it is often used today to describe extreme fandom or devotion in non-religious contexts, from celebrity culture to technology. It’s a fascinating way to highlight humanity’s capacity for passionate allegiance.
(adjective) So fundamentally different in kind that comparison or combination is difficult or impossible.
The committee was made up of disparate voices — a retired military general, a teenage climate activist, a Wall Street banker, and a rural farmer — who somehow had to reach a single consensus.
Disparate comes from the Latin disparatus, the past participle of disparare — “to separate” — built from dis- (“apart”) and parare (“to prepare” or “to arrange”). It entered English in the 16th century, used to describe things so fundamentally unlike one another that they resist any meaningful comparison or grouping. It shares its Latin root with separate, making the two words distant cousins whose shared ancestry reflects their shared meaning.