Meaning of cult | Babel Free

Definitions

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
2. 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.
3. A group of people having an obsession with or intense admiration for a particular activity, idea, person or thing
4. A group of people having an obsession with or intense admiration for a particular activity, idea, person or thing.
   informal
5. A religious organization or movement which deviates from the established religious tradition in the community.
6. a particular system of (religious) belief or worship. a strange new religious cult; Physical fitness has become a cult with him. kultus نِظام ديني، عَقيدَه култ culto kult der Kult kult λατρείαculto kultus فرقه kultti culteכת मत kult kultusz pemujaan dÿrkun; trúarregla; trúaratriði culto 崇拝 이교도 kultas kults kultus cultuskult, sektkult د مذهبی عقایدو یو سیسټم culto cult культ kult kult kult kult ลัทธิความเชื่อ mezhep 狂熱的崇拜，教派 культ; віросповідання دينى رسوم، مذهب، مسلک giáo phái 狂热的崇拜，异教团体
7. 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
8. 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.
   derogatory
9. 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.
10. Of or relating to a cult
11. A system or community of religious worship and ritual.
12. Enjoyed by a small, loyal group
13. The formal means of expressing religious reverence; religious ceremony and ritual.
14. A usually nonscientific method or regimen claimed by its originator to have exclusive or exceptional power in curing a particular disease.
15. Obsessive, especially faddish, devotion to or veneration for a person, principle, or thing.
16. An exclusive group of persons sharing an esoteric, usually artistic or intellectual interest.
17. (Theology) a specific system of religious worship, esp with reference to its rites and deity
18. (Theology) a sect devoted to such a system

Equivalents

Examples

“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."”

“the heavy metal cult”

“the cult of basketball”

“the guitarist's cult of loyal fans”

“the cult of celebrity”

“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.”

“Outsiders often criticize the extreme commitment of group members. But what is really happening is that leader and followers are conspiring to realize a vision that is falsified daily. For the cult is not paradise, and the leader is not God. Hence the follower is embattled; to squarely confront the many failings of the leader and the group is to call into question one's own great work. Only by daily recommitting himself can the follower continue to work toward his ultimate goal. Each follower works out a secret compromise, acknowledging some things while denying or distorting others. Clearly this is a high-risk strategy that may go awry.”

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

“If Jones' People's Temple wasn't a cult, then the term has no meaning.”

“Another potent element of the new cult milieu was the therapy sect, which offered believers the chance to achieve their full human potential through personal growth and self-actualization by taking total responsibility for one's actions. The prototypical movement of this kind was est (Erhard Seminar Training), in which intense and often grueling sessions forced followers to confront a new view of reality.”

“He sounds like a cult leader about to demand his followers drink poison. And it frankly doesn’t help that he looks like Jim Jones to a genuinely creepy degree.”

“Marc Andreessen, a venture capitalist who has become one of Silicon Valley's most outspoken opponents of regulation, has described people who warn of existential risks from AI as a cult, no different from other millenarian movements that warn of impending social disasters.”

CEFR level