cult

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.

   “imperial cult”

   “the cult of Mary”

   “"When frying sausages," remarked Cripps, who seemed to regard that occupation as a cult, "it is advisable to perforate the outer skin with a fork."”

   “By the end of the tenth century, Edith's humility had inspired a cult of holy wells in Kent, Staffordshire, and Herefordshire.”

2. (informal)A group of people having an obsession with or intense admiration for a particular activity, idea, person or thing.

   “the heavy metal cult”

   “the cult of basketball”

   “the guitarist's cult of loyal fans”

   “the cult of celebrity”

3. (derogatory)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.

   “Two former cult members explain the difficulties they had extricating themselves from it.”

   “Werner Erhard's highly successful est cult is partly derived from Scientology. Erhard had some experience with Scientology in 1969. Then he worked for a while in Mind Dynamics, itself an offshoot of Jose Silva's Mind Control.”

   “There are scores of modern religious cults and sects that have been influenced by Hinduism to varying degrees. Werner Erhard, founder of 'Landmark Education's 'The Forum',' and 'est' seminars, which have about 700,000 graduates, was influenced by Hinduism through Swami Muktananda, one of Erhard's principal gurus.”

   “The difference between a cult and an established religion is sometimes about one generation.”

adj

1. (not-comparable)Of or relating to a cult.
2. (not-comparable)Enjoyed by a small, loyal group.

   “a cult horror movie”

   “To a certain extent, the cult movie and the classic are opposites, appealing to vastly different audiences. Whereas a film can become an instant cult, and then forgotten, a film cannot become an “instant classic”, which is only critical shorthand for “excellent”.”

   “Monte Hellman, whose terse action films, epitomized by the 1971 road movie “Two-Lane Blacktop,” made him a cult hero of the American independent film movement, died on Tuesday in Palm Desert, Calif.”

3. (alt-of, alternative, neologism, not-comparable)Alternative form of kvlt.