cult

American  

[kuhlt] / kʌlt /

noun

• cults
  plural

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.

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adjective

1. of or relating to a cult.

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

   a cult movie.

cult British  

/ 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

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cult Cultural  

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.)

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Discover More

The term cult often suggests extreme beliefs and bizarre behavior.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

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

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• cults
  plural

Etymology

Origin of cult

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

Explanation

People argue about whether the major religions of the world are just well-established cults — that, age and size aside, they are no different from any group that follows a spiritual leader. A cult is group of people defined by a "religious" devotion to something — often a self-appointed leader. Most people view cults as strange and frightening, mostly because cults have, over the years, done some strange and frightening things, including murders and mass suicides. Sometimes, too, you'll see cult used as an adjective to describe something or someone with a small, devoted fan-base. John Water's movies are cult favorites, adored by a select group of film lovers but not by the public at large.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cult cults

Few would have expected him to veer from United squad player to cult hero mentioned in the same breath as Napoli's greatest adopted son, Diego Maradona.

From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026

Damon Herriman plays a cult leader in the image of David Koresh, complete with aviator glasses and rock star dreams.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026

The rub here is that there’s a difference between a film that becomes a cult classic because it’s genuinely underrated, and one that achieves that status through the unholy, rose-colored lens of social media obsession.

From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2026

The original 1998 film hardly enchanted critics upon its debut, but went on to conjure a cult following that had kept hopes of a sequel alive ever since.

From Barron's ● Sep. 13, 2026

So if there’s no focus on religion, then the Ranch can’t be a cult, right?

From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy

Since Niyazov's death in 2006, successive presidents -- Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and his son Serdar -- have kept the system in place, along with the cults of personality and grand architecture.

From Barron's ● Jun. 23, 2026

If you’re endlessly fascinated by cults and crave another documentary dose, this month brings two very different offerings.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 9, 2026

People join cults seeking solutions to what’s going wrong in their lives; if you’ve tried everything else, why not follow someone’s lead?

From Salon ● Dec. 29, 2025

The near-perfect overlay of the religious image with a political image is a visual synecdoche for the Revolution’s replacement of Christianity with the cults of Nature and Reason.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 21, 2025

The definitions say cults are mostly formed around religious beliefs and practices.

From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy

Related Words

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