personality cult

noun

: a situation in which a public figure (such as a political leader) is deliberately presented to the people of a country as a great person who should be admired and loved

Examples of personality cult in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

This has led to a personality cult of the individual creative genius who holds exclusive ownership to some magical artistic impulse. —Charlie Engman, ARTnews.com, 20 Sep. 2024

One party has turned into a personality cult around a criminal candidate. —Letters To The Editor, The Mercury News, 13 Aug. 2024

Surviving multiple early attempts on their lives can boost a political leader’s personality cult and claims of invincibility. —Ruth Ben-Ghiat, The Conversation, 25 July 2024

Nasser ordered one of the most extensive political crackdowns in Egypt’s history and nurtured a personality cult that would remain until his death 16 years later. —Shadi Hamid, Washington Post, 16 July 2024

DeSantis’ selfishly tardy exit finally allows for the crucial one-on-one between Trump and Nikki Haley for the future and the soul of a once great party that risks becoming a personality cult for a dangerous man who has only contempt for democracy and American governmental and political traditions. —New York Daily News Editorial Board, New York Daily News, 22 Jan. 2024

Netanyahu’s Likud Party, which has dominated Israeli politics since 1977, turned into a personality cult around its leader. —Aluf Benn, Foreign Affairs, 3 Jan. 2023

The narrative of India as the new economic miracle is foundational to both the personality cult of Modi and the legitimacy of his government at home and abroad. —Debasish Roy Chowdhury, TIME, 24 Apr. 2024

DeSantis’ failure to appeal to even Republican primary voters — who tend to be the most right-leaning among Republicans generally — should raise questions about whether the GOP has any appeal to American voters at all, outside Trump’s strongman personality cult. —Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 22 Jan. 2024