Iconoclasm
Etymology
From Greek “eikōn” (“image”) plus “klan” (“to break”) — literally “image-breaking.” It first named the destruction of religious icons during 8th- and 9th-century Byzantine disputes, and again during the Reformation. The word later broadened from smashing physical images to challenging revered ideas and traditions of any kind.
noun · /eye-KON-uh-klaz-um/
The attacking of cherished beliefs, institutions, or images — literally or figuratively.
What it names
The impulse to smash idols, whether stone statues or sacred assumptions, and the figure who makes a point of doing so.
Example
His book was an act of iconoclasm, dismantling the field’s most sacred assumptions.
Related idea
Distinguish it from heresy, which is holding forbidden beliefs — an iconoclast actively attacks or topples established idols and orthodoxies rather than merely dissenting in private.
See also