GRAVEN IMAGE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does graven image mean? 

• GRAVEN IMAGE (noun)
  The noun GRAVEN IMAGE has 1 sense:

1. a material effigy that is worshipped

  Familiarity information: GRAVEN IMAGE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GRAVEN IMAGE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A material effigy that is worshipped

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

god; graven image; idol

Context example:

money was his god

Hypernyms ("graven image" is a kind of...):

effigy; image; simulacrum (a representation of a person (especially in the form of sculpture))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "graven image"):

golden calf ((Old Testament) an idol made by Aaron for the Israelites to worship; destroyed by Moses; it is now used to refer to anything worshipped undeservedly)

joss (a Chinese god worshipped in the form of an idol)

Juggernaut (a crude idol of Krishna)

 Context examples 

To this crib I always took my doll; human beings must love something, and, in the dearth of worthier objects of affection, I contrived to find a pleasure in loving and cherishing a faded graven image, shabby as a miniature scarecrow.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)