cult

noun, often attributive \ ˈkəlt \

|Updated on: 12 Aug 2018

Examples: cult in a Sentence

Editor's Note: The overlap of cults and culture

Definition of cult

1 : a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious (see spurious 2); also : its body of adherents

the voodoo cult

a satanic cult

2 a : great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work (such as a film or book)

criticizing how the media promotes the cult of celebrity

; especially : such devotion regarded as a literary or intellectual fad

b : the object of such devotion

c : a usually small group of people characterized by such devotion

the singer's cult of fans

The film has a cult following.

3 : a system of religious beliefs and ritual; also : its body of adherents

the cult of Apollo

4 : formal religious veneration : worship

5 : a system for the cure of disease based on dogma set forth by its promulgator

health cults

—

cultic

play \ˈkəl-tik\ adjective

—

cultish

play \ˈkəl-tish\ adjective

—

cultishly

play \ˈkəl-tish-lē\ adverb

—

cultishness

play \ˈkəl-tish-nəs\ noun

—

cultism

play \ˈkəl-ˌti-zəm\ noun

—

cultist

play \ˈkəl-tist\ noun

—

cultlike

play \ˈkəlt-ˌlīk\ adjective

See cult defined for English-language learners

See cult defined for kids

Examples of cult in a Sentence

She has developed a cult following.
long after it had gone off the air, the TV series continued to have a huge cult

Recent Examples of cult from the Web

The show itself, though, was snubbed for best series — a cult hit out of the U.K. is easily elbowed aside by a Westworld, HBO’s big-budget showcase for androids.

— tom gilatto, PEOPLE.com, "Emmy Nominations 2018: PEOPLE's Critic Breaks Down All the Nods — and Predicts Some Winners," 12 July 2018
Owning a Big Green Egg has been compared to joining a cult.

— polly campbell, Cincinnati.com, "Big Green Eggs: A cult or a cooking method?," 6 July 2018
That comes direct from Andersson, the coach, of course, but it is also rooted in a reaction to what went before, when Sweden was a cult of an individual.

— rory smith, New York Times, "By His Absence, Zlatan Ibrahimovic Makes Sweden Stronger at the World Cup," 3 July 2018
Red Ants Pants Original Work Pants ($139) The top reasons these are a cult favorite among female ranchers: supple 12-ounce canvas, ample pockets, and fits for narrow and wide hips in sizes from 0 to 22.

— blair braverman, Outside Online, "Summer's Best Workwear for Men and Women," 28 June 2018
The filmmakers — Benson writes, Moorhead mans the camera, both direct — have cast themselves as brothers Justin and Aaron Smith, living in West Coast poverty a number of years after escaping from a mysterious cult in the desert.

— ty burr, BostonGlobe.com, "They got away, then they decided to go back? Bad idea.," 20 June 2018
The world’s largest hedge fund, Bridgewater, of Westport, Connecticut, was essentially a cult, with its own bible, ritual mind control, and feats of strength.

— gary shteyngart, The New Yorker, "The Luck of Kokura," 18 June 2018
Released by From Software in 2004, only on the original Xbox, and only in Japan, the game’s been a cult hit for over a decade now.

— brad chacos, PCWorld, "The best PC games of E3 2018," 15 June 2018
From the moment Byredo launched its cult-favorite hair fragrances back in 2015, founder Ben Gorham knew that hair care was personal.

— janelle okwodu, Vogue, "Byredo’s New Keepsake Combs Pay Tribute to Africa’s Beloved Queens," 13 July 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'cult.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

The overlap of cults and culture

Cult, which shares an origin with culture and cultivate, comes from the Latin cultus, a noun with meanings ranging from "tilling, cultivation" to "training or education" to "adoration." In English, cult has evolved a number of meanings following a fairly logical path. The earliest known uses of the word, recorded in the 17th century, broadly denoted "worship." From here cult came to refer to a specific branch of a religion or the rites and practices of that branch, as in "the cult of Dionysus." By the early 18th century, cult could refer to a non-religious admiration or devotion, such as to a person, idea, or fad ("the cult of success"). Finally, by the 19th century, the word came to be used of "a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious."

Origin and Etymology of cult

French & Latin; French culte, from Latin cultus care, adoration, from colere to cultivate — more at wheel

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1613

in the meaning defined at sense 4

See Words from the same year

cult Synonyms

Other Religion (Eastern and Other) Terms

Zen, antinomian, avatar, gnosticism, illuminati, ineffable, karma, koan, mantra

CULT Defined for English Language Learners

cult

noun

Definition of cult for English Language Learners

: a small religious group that is not part of a larger and more accepted religion and that has beliefs regarded by many people as extreme or dangerous
: a situation in which people admire and care about something or someone very much or too much
: a small group of very devoted supporters or fans