as in zealot
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Recent Examples of cultist
The Industry actress, 29, got soaked in fake blood for her role in the horror-action flick as Maria Reaves (the younger sister to protagonist Asia Reaves, played by Zazie Beetz), as did Graham, 56, who plays a satanic cultist.
—
Bailey Richards, PEOPLE, 5 Apr. 2026
There’s an incredible sequence where Zazie Beetz’s character fights cultists with a flaming axe.
—Brian Davids, HollywoodReporter, 25 Mar. 2026
The film also features performances from Emma Chamberlain as traumatized former employee/cultist Pickle and Gabrielle Union as store manager Sharon, who’s been hired to keep the ladies in line after a tragedy recently struck the store.
—Glenn Garner, Deadline, 17 Mar. 2026
Virgie is pursued, in some of the play’s funniest moments, by a slithering cultist in shiny green gloves who purrs like a deadly kitty and moves like an Animaniac.
—Sara Holdren, Vulture, 11 Mar. 2026
These are artifacts for cultists, to be sure, but how big is the clique that has been waiting to hear all this unvaulted material?
—Chris Willman, Variety, 17 Feb. 2026
Islamists battled for their own theocratic nation, and bands of Christian cultists—whom locals, naming them according to their most notorious act, called chop-chop—severed the heads of those deemed unholy in villages and towns across Mindanao.
—Sean Williams, Harpers Magazine, 27 Jan. 2026
Peeking through shattered windows and cracks in the walls, Katja witnesses cultists driving metal spikes into their flesh and hanging themselves from hooks like the Cenobites from Hellraiser in an attempt to drive away the allure of sleep with unadulterated pain.
—Christopher Cruz, Rolling Stone, 3 Dec. 2025
The PayPal cofounder then turns South Park into a surveillance state, commandeering all the students' data to compile a list of cultists.
—Mekishana Pierre, Entertainment Weekly, 16 Oct. 2025
Bailey Richards, PEOPLE, 5 Apr. 2026
There’s an incredible sequence where Zazie Beetz’s character fights cultists with a flaming axe.
—Brian Davids, HollywoodReporter, 25 Mar. 2026
The film also features performances from Emma Chamberlain as traumatized former employee/cultist Pickle and Gabrielle Union as store manager Sharon, who’s been hired to keep the ladies in line after a tragedy recently struck the store.
—Glenn Garner, Deadline, 17 Mar. 2026
Virgie is pursued, in some of the play’s funniest moments, by a slithering cultist in shiny green gloves who purrs like a deadly kitty and moves like an Animaniac.
—Sara Holdren, Vulture, 11 Mar. 2026
These are artifacts for cultists, to be sure, but how big is the clique that has been waiting to hear all this unvaulted material?
—Chris Willman, Variety, 17 Feb. 2026
Islamists battled for their own theocratic nation, and bands of Christian cultists—whom locals, naming them according to their most notorious act, called chop-chop—severed the heads of those deemed unholy in villages and towns across Mindanao.
—Sean Williams, Harpers Magazine, 27 Jan. 2026
Peeking through shattered windows and cracks in the walls, Katja witnesses cultists driving metal spikes into their flesh and hanging themselves from hooks like the Cenobites from Hellraiser in an attempt to drive away the allure of sleep with unadulterated pain.
—Christopher Cruz, Rolling Stone, 3 Dec. 2025
The PayPal cofounder then turns South Park into a surveillance state, commandeering all the students' data to compile a list of cultists.
—Mekishana Pierre, Entertainment Weekly, 16 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cultist
Noun
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The apocalyptic religious zealots who ran the Iranian police state were on the verge of complete construction of a nuclear bomb.—
Peter Lucas,
Boston Herald,
13 Apr. 2026
-
Set in the last year of World War II on the remote North Sea island of Amrum, the story is told from the point of view of 12-year-old Nanning (Jasper Billerbeck), whose zealot mother (Laura Tonke) is raising him as a good Nazi while his father fights in the war.—
Anne Thompson,
IndieWire,
8 Apr. 2026
Noun
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The documentary follows Christine Marie, a former fundamentalist who became an expert in cults, and her husband, Tolga Katas, embedding themselves among the Samuelite Group with the hopes of garnering evidence to bring to the police.—
Lizzie Lanuza,
StyleCaster,
10 Apr. 2026
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Directed by Dretzin, False Prophet began in earnest with Christine Marie, a former fundamentalist who became an expert in cults, and her videographer husband, Tolga Katas, moving to Short Creek and embedding themselves amongst the local sect.—
Derek Lawrence,
Entertainment Weekly,
9 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Cultist.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cultist. Accessed 20 Apr. 2026.
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