Basileiolatry

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The practice of showing religious reverence or adoration toward a monarch or sovereign
2. Treating a king or royal figure with the kind of devotion and honor typically reserved for divine worship
3. The veneration of a ruler as though they possessed sacred or godlike authority

Etymology: "Basileiolatry" is a modern coinage, built from two Greek parts: "basíleios", meaning "of the king" (from "basileús", "king"), and the combining element "-latry", which comes from "latreía", meaning "worship." Put together, the term names the worship of kings, or of royalty as such. The word follows a familiar pattern. Terms ending in "-latry" were formed in English on Greek models to describe excessive or idolatrous devotion, as in "bibliolatry" (worship of the book) and "hero-worship" in its more ironic forms. "Basileiolatry" applies the same construction to monarchy, so the element "basileio-" comes from the adjective rather than the noun, a small grammatical twist that gives the word its distinctive sound.

Synonyms: royalism