English Explanatory Dictionary

cult

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. The veneration, devotion, and religious rites given to a deity (especially in a historical polytheistic context), or (in a Christian context) to a saint; a subset of worship.
  2. A group of people having an obsession with or intense admiration for a particular activity, idea, person or thing.
  3. A group, sect or movement following an unorthodox religious or philosophical system of beliefs, especially one in which members remove and exclude themselves from greater society, including family members not part of the cult, and show extreme devotion to a charismatic leader.
adj
  1. Of or relating to a cult.
  2. Enjoyed by a small, loyal group.
  3. Alternative form of kvlt.

Pronunciation

/kʌlt/ [kʰʌlt] /ˈkɒlt/ /ˈkʊlt/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-cult.wav

Word forms

cult cults

Etymology

Derived from French culte, from Latin cultus (“care, adoration; cult”), from colō (“cultivate; protect”).

Related words

new religious movement sect

Derived words

anticult cargo cult cargo cult science cult archaeology cultbuster cultdom cult film cult follower cult following culthead cult hero cult hit cultic cultish cultishly cultishness cultism cultist cultlike cult of personality cultship cult stock culty cybercult death cult doomsday cult fertility cult imperial cult masscult megacult midcult mystery cult noncult personality cult Qult sex cult subcult suicide cult trans cult witch cult
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