An idol is an image or other material object representing a deity to which religious worship is addressed or any person or thing regarded with blind admiration, adoration, or devotion.
More specific terms include:
- Worship
- Cult image, a religion-neutral term for a man-made object that is venerated for the deity, spirit or demon that it embodies or represents
- Idolatry, a term used especially in Abrahamic religions for the worship of cult images, termed idols, perhaps tending towards iconoclasm, the destruction of images
- Murti, a point of focus for devotion or meditation in Hindu and Buddhist religion (not always man-made)
- Entertainment
- Idol series, one of several television shows that give formerly unknown persons an opportunity to become stars. The Idol series began in the United Kingdom and has since spread around the world - Australia, Singapore, Canada, France, Germany, India, the United States, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, South Africa, West African countries, Indonesia, and many other countries.
- Teen idol, a popular celebrity "worshipped" by teenagers
- Japanese idol, a heavily promoted and merchandised singer or actor,a model that will later heavily influence the conception of "Idol" in Other Asian countries Pop Culture (Such as: Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore ...)
- K-pop idol
- Billy Idol, English rock musician
- The iDol, Japanese comedy movie
- Idoling!!!, a Japanese female idol group
- "Idol", an episode of the television show Power Rangers: SPD
- Matinee idol, an adored film or theater star
- Idoli, a Serbian new wave band from the early 1980s
- 1dol, a Philippine TV musical
- Other
- Brad Cain, a professional wrestler known as Lodi and Idol
- Idol (philosophy), one of several concepts developed by various philosophers
- Idol Records, a record label
- IDOL (software), meta software developed by Autonomy Corporation
Famous quotes containing the word idol:
“Your mock saint who stands in a niche is not a woman if she have not suffered, still less a woman if she have not sinned. Fall at the feet of your idol as you wish, but drag her down to your level after that—the only level she should ever reach, that of your heart.”
—Emmuska, Baroness Orczy (1865–1947)
“Its idea of “production value” is spending a million dollars dressing up a story that any good writer would throw away. Its vision of the rewarding movie is a vehicle for some glamour-puss with two expressions and eighteen changes of costume, or for some male idol of the muddled millions with a permanent hangover, six worn-out acting tricks, the build of a lifeguard, and the mentality of a chicken-strangler.”
—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959)
“One should never direct people towards happiness, because happiness too is an idol of the market-place. One should direct them towards mutual affection. A beast gnawing at its prey can be happy too, but only human beings can feel affection for each other, and this is the highest achievement they can aspire to.”
—Alexander Solzhenitsyn (b. 1918)