1
as in to adore
to love or admire too much
people who hero-worship celebrities are setting themselves up for disappointment
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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
Sarah Scott, Parents, 19 Mar. 2025
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
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
The young girl's feelings of being left out and ostracized by her peers likely led her to the group—which experts say is a dangerous mix of hero worship and unhealthy messaging about how to cope with bullying.
—Sarah Scott, Parents, 19 Mar. 2025
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
See All Example Sentences for hero-worship
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hero-worship
Verb
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Nature lovers, however, will adore Hokkaido—where rolling lavender fields meet powdery slopes—while Nara offers the perfect opportunity to meet roaming deer under ancient shrines.—
Lewis Nunn,
Forbes.com,
25 July 2025
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Fans adored this celebrity matching game primarily for its bawdy humor and banter between host Gene Rayburn and beloved panelists such as Charles Nelson Reilly, Brett Somers, and Betty White.—
Lindsay Soll,
EW.com,
25 July 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
-
He’s overpraised of course.—
Nick Laird,
The New York Review of Books,
16 Mar. 2023
Noun
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Shortly after taking office, Trump threw out DHS policies to limit where ICE arrests can take place, granting ICE the right to conduct raids in places of worship, schools, and hospitals.—
Mandy Taheri,
MSNBC Newsweek,
31 July 2025
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The new suit seeks to expand that injunctive relief to other houses of worship.—
Sophie Carson,
jsonline.com,
30 July 2025
Verb
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Kids who didn't like reading would slog through the requisite number of books to get points, then be done for the summer.—
Neda Ulaby,
NPR,
4 Aug. 2025
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Despite that, Breyer’s likes the potential for these vehicles.—
Jorge L. Ortiz,
USA Today,
4 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Wiegman generally hates talking about individual players, but goes out of her way to praise Bronze’s competitive spirit.—
Michael Cox,
New York Times,
26 July 2025
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But since negotiating the Paramount-Skydance merger, Ellison was spotted sitting near Trump at a UFC event earlier this year, and Trump has praised Ellison’s takeover of Paramount.—
Conor Murray,
Forbes.com,
25 July 2025
Noun
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Each has done so to growing public interest and all that comes with it: adoration, criticism and faces on Panini stickers.—
Charlotte Harpur,
New York Times,
26 July 2025
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Jeremy begins to question whether sacrificing his authenticity is worth the newfound adoration, but not before the SQUIP has fully taken over and begun to cause chaos among his peers.—
Raven Brunner,
People.com,
25 July 2025
Verb
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And every one of those girls and those counselors absolutely idolized her.—
Frank Morris,
NPR,
12 July 2025
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In South Carolina, the audience meets 15-year-old Joplin, who idolizes their gun-wielding veteran father.—
Murtada Elfadl,
Variety,
23 June 2025
Verb
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Instead, coaches are gently correcting or congratulating Ewers.—
Chris Perkins,
Sun Sentinel,
30 July 2025
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Council President Joe LaCava congratulated McClurg on her retirement from a 38-year career in public education, the last 16 years spent in the Del Mar district, where all nine schools are geographically in the city of San Diego.—
Karen Billing,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
29 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Hero-worship.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hero-worship. Accessed 7 Aug. 2025.
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