A gesture, not yet a verdict
Proskyneō is first a body falling down. People in Scripture proskyneō kings, prophets, and benefactors without idolatry — Abraham bows to the Hittites; the brothers bow to Joseph. So the bare act does not settle whether worship is happening.
Where it decides the icon debate
This flexibility is exactly the hinge of the icon controversy. The Seventh Council distinguished the relative honor (proskynēsis) shown to an image from the worship (latreia) owed to God alone. Critics answer that Jesus pairs proskyneō with God 'only' (Mt 4:10), and that John is twice forbidden to proskyneō an angel — yet the same Jesus receives proskyneō the angel refused. The whole argument lives inside this one verb.
Where This Word Decides Debates
Proskuneo is THE word in the icon-veneration debate, and a quiet witness to Christ's deity (he accepts what angels refuse).
When This Word Study Proves Too Much
Don't argue from the bare verb that every proskyneō is divine worship (the LXX disproves it) — nor that none is. The object and intent carry the weight; the gesture alone proves too little.