Other forms: iconoclasts
An iconoclast is somebody who attacks cherished beliefs. A cheerful iconoclast.
The word first meant a literal breaker of religious images in the Byzantine empire. An iconoclast is admired or resented depending entirely on whose belief is being broken.
1nouniconoclastSomebody who attacks cherished beliefs.
“He made a career as an iconoclast and was proved right twice.”
iconoclast is a person.
Medieval Greek eikonoklastes means image breaker, from eikon, an image, plus klan, to break.
Medieval Greek
εἰκονοκλάστης
Medieval Latin
īconoclastēs
French
iconoclaste
English, today
iconoclast
Borrowed from French iconoclaste and its etymon Medieval Latin īconoclastēs, from Medieval Greek εἰκονοκλάστης literally “image breaker”. by surface analysis, icono- + -clast.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA