hagiolater

A devout hagiolater kneels before a statue of a saint in a quiet chapel.

Definition

1. Noun:
   • A worshiper of saints: "hagiolater" refers to a person who venerates or worships saints, especially in a religious context.

Usage Examples

• (A person who worships saints.)
• (A devotee who venerates saints.)

Advanced Usage

• "hagiolater of tradition": a figurative extension meaning someone who excessively reveres historical or religious customs.
  • He was a hagiolater of ancient rituals, refusing to modernize the ceremony. (Someone who worships tradition.)

Variants and Related Words

• Hagiolatry (n): the worship or veneration of saints.
  • The church’s focus on hagiolatry drew criticism from reformers. (The practice of saint worship.)
• Hagiography (n): the writing of the lives of saints; a biography that idealizes its subject.
  • The saint’s life was recorded in an elaborate hagiography. (A biography of a saint.)
• Hagiolatrous (adj): relating to or characterized by the worship of saints.
  • The hagiolatrous crowd knelt before the altar. (Showing veneration for saints.)

Synonyms

• Saint worshiper: a person who venerates saints.
• Devotee: a person who is very interested in and enthusiastic about someone or something.
• Venerator: someone who regards with great respect.

Related Idioms

• "Worship the ground someone walks on": to admire or revere someone extremely (often used in a secular context, but similar in intensity).
  • She was such a hagiolater of the bishop that she would worship the ground he walked on. (To show extreme devotion.)