cult

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

From French culte, from Latin cultus (“care, adoration; cult”), from colō (“cultivate; protect”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kʌlt/

  Rhymes: -ʌlt

Noun

cult (plural cults)

1. A group of people with a religious, philosophical or cultural identity sometimes viewed as a sect, often existing on the margins of society or exploitative towards its members.
2. Devotion to a saint.

Derived terms

• cargo cult
• cultic
• cultist

Translations

a sect

Arabic: شيعة (ar) (šīʕa) f. Belarusian: культ (be) (kul't) m. Bulgarian: култ (bg) (kult) m. Chinese: Mandarin: 邪教 (cmn) (xiéjiào), 異教 (cmn), 异教 (cmn) (yìjiào) Esperanto: sekto (eo), kulto (eo) Finnish: lahko (fi), uskonlahko (fi), kultti (fi) French: secte (fr) f., culte (fr) m. German: Sekte (de) f. Greek: αίρεση (el) (aíresi) f., λατρεία  (el) (latreía) f. Hebrew: כת (he) (kat) f. Indonesian: sekte (id) Italian: culto (it) m.

Japanese: カルト (ja) (karuto) Latin: cultus (la) m. Norwegian: Bokmål: kult (nb) Nynorsk: kult (nn) Polish: sekta (pl) f. Russian: культ (ru) (kul't) m., секта (ru) (sékta) f. Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: култ (sh) m. Roman: kult (sh) m. Swedish: sekt (sv) Tagalog: (literally) kulto (tl) Turkish: kült (tr) Ukrainian: культ (uk) (kul't) m.

devotion to a saint

Bulgarian: култ (bg) (kult) m. Chinese: Mandarin: 崇拜 (cmn) (chóngbài) Finnish: kultti (fi) French: culte (fr) m. German: Kult (de) m., Kultus (de) m.

Greek: θρησκεία (el) (thriskeía) f., δόγμα (el) (dógma) n. Hebrew: פולחן (he) (pulkhan) m. Italian: culto (it) m. Japanese: 崇拝 (ja) (すうはい, sūhai) Polish: kult (pl) m. Russian: культ (ru) (kul't) m.

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

Maltese: kult

Norwegian: kult (no) Spanish: secta (es) f.

See also

• sect

Adjective

cult (not comparable)

1. Of, or relating to a cult.
2. Enjoyed by a small, loyal group.

   a cult horror movie

Usage notes

The term has a positive connotation for groups of art, music, writing, fiction, and fashion devotees, but a negative connotation for new religious, extreme political, questionable therapeutic, and pyramidal business groups.

Translations

of, or relating to a cult

Bulgarian: култов (bg)

Finnish: kultti- (fi), lahkolais- (fi)

enjoyed by a small, loyal group

Bulgarian: култов (bg) Finnish: kultti- (fi) French: culte (fr)

German: Kult (de) Russian: культовый (ru) (kúl'tovyj) Turkish: kült (tr)

Anagrams

• CLUT