cargo cult

noun(sometimes initial capital letters)

any of various Indigenous religious groups of a millenarian and messianic character located in the southwestern Pacific Islands, holding that spirits will bring large cargoes of modern goods for distribution among its adherents.

Origin of cargo cult

First recorded in 1945–50

Other words from cargo cult

cargo cultist, noun

Words Nearby cargo cult

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use cargo cult in a sentence

To prove the fallacy of said cargo cult, Olson goes into the numbers.
The GOP's Socially Conservative Minority Voter Cargo Cult | Justin Green | December 15, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST
But here, in something like this, so handmade and one of a kind, I think it gives it a nice cargo-cult neoprimitive feel.
Makers | Cory Doctorow

British Dictionary definitions for cargo cult

cargo cult

noun

a religious movement of the SW Pacific, characterized by expectation of the return of spirits in ships or aircraft carrying goods that will provide for the needs of the followers

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Browse