1
as in to adore
to love or admire too much
people who hero-worship celebrities are setting themselves up for disappointment
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to overpraise
to praise too much
a golfing pro who is hero-worshipped by hordes of weekend duffers
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in worship
excessive admiration of or devotion to a person
once the object of uncritical hero worship, the aging quarterback now faces the derision of his team's fickle fans
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of hero-worship
Georg Szalai, The Hollywood Reporter, 14 Mar. 2025
Machismo is another one of these elements as the doc repeatedly shows a star matador and his hero-worshipping entourage.
—Georg Szalai, The Hollywood Reporter, 14 Mar. 2025
Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 7 Feb. 2025
Springsteen admires the precision, energy, and intelligence of Bryan’s songwriting, but he’s also clearly charmed by the 28-year-old Navy veteran’s obvious hero worship, puppy-in-a-frat energy, and relentless sincerity.
—Brian Hiatt, Rolling Stone, 16 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for hero-worship
Verb
Machismo is another one of these elements as the doc repeatedly shows a star matador and his hero-worshipping entourage.
—Georg Szalai, The Hollywood Reporter, 14 Mar. 2025
Machismo is another one of these elements as the doc repeatedly shows a star matador and his hero-worshipping entourage.
—Georg Szalai, The Hollywood Reporter, 14 Mar. 2025
Noun
Prone to hero worship early on, Drake hashed out his style in public, dabbling in rap while working on the Canadian teen soap Degrassi: The Next Generation.
—Craig Jenkins, Vulture, 7 Feb. 2025
Springsteen admires the precision, energy, and intelligence of Bryan’s songwriting, but he’s also clearly charmed by the 28-year-old Navy veteran’s obvious hero worship, puppy-in-a-frat energy, and relentless sincerity.
—Brian Hiatt, Rolling Stone, 16 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for hero-worship
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hero-worship
Verb
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His Family Life He’s not just adored onscreen; he’s got a phenomenally close family as well.—
Rachel McRady,
People.com,
8 Apr. 2025
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In front of its adoring crowd, the North London club took a huge step towards the Champions League semifinal by beating Spanish juggernaut Real Madrid 3-0 in its quarterfinal first-leg.—
Ben Church,
CNN Money,
8 Apr. 2025
Verb
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Know-nothings pretend that Schrader’s Bressonian mannerisms reveal the spiritual depths of contemporary crisis, when, in fact, Master Gardener repeats the same social-collapse paranoia that made secular reviewers overpraise the religious, racial, suicide-bomber topics of First Reformed.—
Armond White,
National Review,
24 May 2023
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He’s overpraised of course.—
Nick Laird,
The New York Review of Books,
16 Mar. 2023
Noun
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While the church itself is small, the views from the hilltop around the place of worship spread out for miles.—
Carolyn Heller,
Forbes.com,
14 Apr. 2025
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The groups sought a preliminary order barring ICE staff from various places of worship while the full lawsuit went ahead.—
David Faris,
MSNBC Newsweek,
12 Apr. 2025
Verb
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Like all salespeople, Don liked products that sold themselves.—
Rich Karlgaard,
Forbes.com,
18 Apr. 2025
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Others credit the accessibility of religious content through social media and influencers, some like Desantis— who has over 220K followers and 4.4M likes on TikTok alone— speak directly to a generation navigating complex identity issues.—
Nicholas Creel,
MSNBC Newsweek,
18 Apr. 2025
Verb
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Greene deflected and bashed the Biden administration while praising the Trump administration before circling back to the purpose of the news conference.—
Anthony Robledo,
USA Today,
28 Mar. 2025
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Participants frequently praise Finland’s egalitarian business culture and efficient decision-making processes.—
Jessica Mendoza,
Forbes.com,
28 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Joseph Lawrence, whose adoration of his first wife blinds him to all other women, is getting dragged to the strip club.—
Amanda Whiting,
Vulture,
15 Apr. 2025
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TikTok users were quick to share their adoration of the special moment.—
Ron Estes,
MSNBC Newsweek,
28 Mar. 2025
Verb
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Green’s lawyer, John Burke, highlighted how abuse and instability in his childhood led him to idolize gang members and join a gang as a young teenager.—
John Annese,
New York Daily News,
6 Mar. 2025
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In particular, Spencer idolized Asian American figure skaters such as Nathan Chen and Vincent Zhou, as well as Maxim Naumov, whose parents, Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova, were coaches at the Skating Club of Boston and also died in the plane crash.—
Emilie Ikeda,
NBC News,
28 Feb. 2025
Verb
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Samira Nasr, the editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar, warmly congratulated the designer and founder of Fear of God in a manner that felt compelling.—
Robyn Mowatt,
Essence,
8 Apr. 2025
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Residents Dan Lee was among those who congratulated House as well as village clerk and trustee candidates who ran on the Clean House slate.—
Mike Nolan,
Chicago Tribune,
8 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Hero-worship.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hero-worship. Accessed 23 Apr. 2025.
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