cult

[kuhlt]

noun

1. a particular system of religious worship, especially with reference to its rites and ceremonies.

2. an instance of great veneration of a person, ideal, or thing, especially as manifested by a body of admirers.

   the physical fitness cult.

3. the object of such devotion.

4. a group or sect bound together by veneration of the same thing, person, ideal, etc.

5. Sociology.,  a group having a sacred ideology and a set of rites centering around their sacred symbols.

6. a religion or sect considered to be false, unorthodox, or extremist, with members often living outside of conventional society under the direction of a charismatic leader.

7. the members of such a religion or sect.

8. any system for treating human sickness that originated by a person usually claiming to have sole insight into the nature of disease, and that employs methods regarded as unorthodox or unscientific.

adjective

1. of or relating to a cult.

2. of, for, or attracting a small group of devotees.

   a cult movie.

cult

/ kʌlt /

noun

1. a specific system of religious worship, esp with reference to its rites and deity

2. a sect devoted to such a system

3. a quasi-religious organization using devious psychological techniques to gain and control adherents

4. sociol a group having an exclusive ideology and ritual practices centred on sacred symbols, esp one characterized by lack of organizational structure

5. intense interest in and devotion to a person, idea, or activity

   the cult of yoga

6. the person, idea, etc, arousing such devotion

7. 1. something regarded as fashionable or significant by a particular group

   2. ( as modifier )

      a cult show

8. (modifier) of, relating to, or characteristic of a cult or cults

   a cult figure

cult

1. In anthropology, an organization for the conduct of ritual, magical, or other religious observances. Many so-called primitive tribes, for example, have ancestor cults, in which dead ancestors are considered divine and activities are organized to respect their memory and invoke their aid. A cult is also a religious group held together by a dominant, often charismatic individual, or by the worship of a divinity, an idol, or some other object. (See animism (see also animism), fetish, and totemism.)

The term cult often suggests extreme beliefs and bizarre behavior.

Other Word Forms

• cultic adjective
• cultual adjective
• cultish adjective
• anticult noun
• cultist noun
• cultism noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of cult¹

First recorded in 1610–20; from Latin cultus “habitation, tilling, refinement, worship,” equivalent to cul-, variant stem of colere “to inhabit, till, worship” + -tus, suffix of verb action

Word History and Origins

Origin of cult¹

C17: from Latin cultus cultivation, refinement, from colere to till

Example Sentences

“And what happened? They didn’t play it. But now it’s a cult classic,” she adds — one she played right at the top of her set at the Bowl.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

In 1985, he commissioned an R. Crumb-illustrated edition of “The Monkey Wrench Gang,” Abbey’s cult novel about a ragtag crew of eco-saboteurs waging war on bulldozers, dams and the American West’s development boom.

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But this band isn’t just a cult fascination for the underground anymore.

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The writer and director won an Oscar for Promising Young Woman in 2021, but is best known for last year's psychological thriller Saltburn, which gained cult status for a succession of provocative and confrontational scenes.

Read more on BBC

Her attack came just days after Ford, a Republican, was targeted in an unrelated murder plot by associates of cult leader Charles Manson.

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Related Words

• band 
• church 
• clan 
• clique 
• denomination 
• faith 
• religion 
• sect