cult

American  

[kuhlt] / kʌlt /

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.

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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

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

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

Fifty years ago Paris-Roubaix was featured in what would become a cult documentary among cycling fans called A Sunday in Hell.

From BBC • Apr. 13, 2026

But unlike his peers, Kim Il Sung had built a personality cult robust enough to be passed down to successive generations.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 11, 2026

The persistence of this faith despite repeated evidence reminds me of the famous 1950s study of cult members who kept expecting UFOs to arrive.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 3, 2026

Drag was an important part of Ortiz’s approach to playing Jim Jimenez, the boundary breaking nonbinary pirate heartthrob on HBO’s cult show “Our Flag Means Death.”

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 1, 2026

I call every once in a while to make sure they haven’t eaten each other or joined a Kool-Aid cult.

From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman

Related Words

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