iconoclast
breaker of images or cherished beliefs
Roots
Other words with the clast root
- clast: something that breaks or is broken
- clastic: made of fragments or relating to breaking
- iconoclastic: attacking cherished beliefs or institutions
- pyroclastic: made of hot volcanic fragments
Other words with the icon root
- icon: an image or widely recognized symbol
- iconoclastic: attacking cherished beliefs or institutions
Icon + clast: an image-breaker, then a belief-breaker.
The iconoclast questioned assumptions everyone else treated as sacred.
An iconoclast first meant an image-breaker: someone who destroyed religious images. The modern word keeps the drama but moves it into ideas. An iconoclast breaks mental idols too.