cult

Pluralcults

1. 1
   religious groupnounderogatorycountable

   An unorthodox religious or philosophical movement whose members cut themselves off from wider society and show extreme devotion to a charismatic leader.

   Investigators spent years trying to free the teenagers trapped inside the remote desert cult.

   Former members described how the cult punished anyone who dared to question its founder.

   UsageCommon pairings: cult leader, cult member, join or leave a cult.

   Similarsect

   Note

   Here the word works as a charge rather than a description. Calling a group a cult usually condemns it, so the label says as much about the speaker as about the group. Religious Movements: Genesis, Exodus, and Numbers (1985), a collection edited by Rodney Stark, applies it to Werner Erhard's est.

2. 2
   beloved by fansadjective

   Loved by a small and intensely loyal following rather than by the wider public.

   The series never topped the ratings, yet it earned a fierce cult reputation among night-shift viewers.

   Quoted endlessly at conventions, the flop grew into a genuine cult phenomenon.

   UsageGoes before a noun: a cult film, a cult hit, a cult favorite.

   Oppositemainstream

   Note

   Film talk's favorite word for a small, fierce following: a cult horror movie, a cult hero, a cult director. Writing in The Guardian in 2008, Ronald Bergan set it against classic. A film can become an instant cult and then be forgotten, but nothing becomes an instant classic. Like the plain "of a cult" adjective, it is not compared: something is cult or it is not. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

   • Ronald Bergan contrasted cult films with classics in The Guardian in 2008. theguardian.com
   • Bergan argued that a film could become an instant cult and subsequently be forgotten, whereas classic status requires time. theguardian.com
3. 3
   fan followingnouncolloquialcountable

   A devoted following that admires a particular person, idea, activity, or thing with intense or obsessive enthusiasm.

   Like a fan base so devoted it almost resembles a religion.

   A devoted cult formed around the indie director long before mainstream critics noticed her.

   Sourdough baking has its own cult, complete with starters passed down for years.

   UsageOften the cult of + noun: the cult of celebrity, the cult of youth.

   Similarfollowing, fandom

   Note

   Borrowed from the religious sense along with its favorite frame: the cult of basketball, the cult of celebrity, the heavy metal cult. The worshipful overtone is the point. Calling a following a cult says its admiration has the shape of devotion. The word is informal here, and lighter than the charge leveled at sects: a guitarist's cult of loyal fans is enthusiasm, not a closed community. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

   • The sense of intense admiration or devotion developed from the religious sense. en.wikipedia.org
4. 4
   worship of godsnouncountable

   The veneration, devotion, and religious rites offered to a deity or, in Christian usage, to a saint, as one part of worship.

   The cult of Isis spread across the Roman Empire, with temples from Egypt to Britain.

   Devotion to the martyr grew into an organized cult, complete with annual feast days.

   Similarworship, veneration

   Note

   The sense closest to its Latin root: cultus meant "care" as well as "adoration", from colō, "to cultivate, protect". Religion scholars use it with an of-phrase naming the one honored (the cult of Mary) or an adjective naming its setting (the imperial cult). Here the word is neutral, with no hint of the "fringe sect" meaning, so a saint's cult implies devotion and ritual, nothing sinister. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

   • English cult ultimately derives from Latin cultus, meaning care and adoration, from colō, meaning cultivate and protect. en.wiktionary.org
5. 5
   belonging to sectsadjective

   Relating to a cult, or to its members, beliefs, and practices.

   The documentary explored the cult practices that drew hundreds of new followers each year.

   Investigators traced the cult symbols carved into the walls of the abandoned compound.

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