cult
(k
lt)
KEY
NOUN:
-
- A religion or religious sect generally considered to be extremist or false, with its followers often living in an unconventional manner under the guidance of an authoritarian, charismatic leader.
- The followers of such a religion or sect.
- A system or community of religious worship and ritual.
- The formal means of expressing religious reverence; religious ceremony and ritual.
- A usually nonscientific method or regimen claimed by its originator to have exclusive or exceptional power in curing a particular disease.
-
- Obsessive, especially faddish, devotion to or veneration for a person, principle, or thing.
- The object of such devotion.
- An exclusive group of persons sharing an esoteric, usually artistic or intellectual interest.
ETYMOLOGY:
Latin
cultus,
worship, from past participle of
colere,
to cultivate; see
kwel-
1 in Indo-European roots
OTHER FORMS:
cul
tic
or
cultish
(Adjective),
cultism
(Noun),
cultist
(Noun)
