1. The practice of worshiping or making offerings to a fetish (an object believed to have magical powers or spiritual significance).
Usage: anthropology; religious studies
2. Excessive or irrational devotion to or reliance on something; the attribution of magical or supernatural qualities to an ordinary object or idea.
Usage: figurative

Examples

• Anthropologists studied the fetichism practices of the indigenous community.
• The tribe's fetichism involved carved wooden objects believed to protect hunters.
• Some scholars view commodity fetichism as a feature of modern consumer culture.
• His fetichism about brand names led him to spend far more than necessary.
• The fetichism of technology in contemporary society sometimes obscures its real limitations.