psycholatry

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noun

The worship of departed souls.

Scrabble 24

Meanings

nounpsycholatry (uncountable)
  1. uncountablelifestyleThe worship of departed souls.

    There is again psycholatry, or the religious reverence paid to the spirits of the dead.

    1881, The Church Missionary Review (Missions), f7A_AQAAMAAJ
    3 more examples

    Then come into being idolatry, psycholatry, henotheism. Idolotry is the worship of an image only, of a symbol of something else. Psycholatry is the worship, the great reverence paid to the spirit of the departed.

    1904, M.C. Alasingaperumal, The Brahmavâdin, volume 9 (Hinduism), Zs8aAAAAYAAJ, page 510

    When, moreover, we call to mind that the spirits of the dead, who at this season leave their graves and hold high revel with the fairies, seem really indistinguishable from the latter, the conclusion irresistibly forces itself upon us, that in the cult paid to the fairy race we have a survival of the worship of departed souls, or psycholatry as it is sometimes called, which is, so far as we know, one of the oldest religions in the world, even if it be not, as many high authorities maintain, the primitive religion of mankind.

    1890, W.H. Allen, The National Review, volume 14 (Great Britain), Qik_AQAAMAAJ, page 761

    Another form of religion called psycholatry holds in reverence the spirit of the departed.

    1889, A. Tompkins, The Universalist Quarterly and General Review, volumes 46–47 (Universalism), c2pJAQAAMAAJ

Origin

Cite this entry
APA

psycholatry. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/psycholatry

MLA

“psycholatry.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/psycholatry. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “psycholatry,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/psycholatry.

Source: psycholatry on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.