cult

See also: cult.

English

Etymology

(deprecated template usage)

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kʌlt/
• Rhymes: -ʌlt

Noun

cult (plural cults)

1. (chiefly derogatory) A group or sect of people with a deviant religious, philosophical or cultural identity, often existing on the margins of society or exploitative towards its members.

   Oh my gosh, I'm in a repressive cult! How can I leave it?

   • 1985, Rodney Stark, Religious movements: Genesis, Exodus, and Numbers, Paragon House Publishers, →ISBN, page 167:

     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.

   • 1996, John Ankerberg, John Weldon, Encyclopedia of New Age Beliefs, Harvest House Publishers, →ISBN, page 216:

     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.

   • 1997, Len Oakes, “Followers and Their Quest”, in Prophetic charisma: The Psychology of Prophetic Charisma, Syracuse University Press, →ISBN, page 137:

     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.

   • 1998 June 17, Scott McLemee, “Rethinking Jonestown”, in Salon.com‎^[1]:

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

   • 1998 June 17, Scott McLemee, “Rethinking Jonestown”, in Salon.com‎^[2]:

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

   • 2000, Philip Jenkins, Mystics and Messiahs : Cults and New Religions in American History, London: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 180:

     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.
2. Devotion to a saint.
3. The veneration and religious rites given to a deity, esp. in a historical polytheistic context.
4. A religion that evolved out of another religion but has become a different religion through developing a radically different theology.
5. (informal) A group of people having an obsession with or intense admiration for a particular activity, idea, person or thing.

Derived terms

• cargo cult
• cultdom
• cultic
• cultist

 

Translations

a sect

• Arabic: فِرْقَة f (firqa), مَذْهَب (ar) (maḏhab), طائِفَة (ar) f (ṭāʔifa)
• Armenian: աղանդ (hy) (aġand)
• Belarusian: культ m (kulʹt), се́кта f (sjékta)
• Bulgarian: култ (bg) m (kult), се́кта (bg) f (sékta)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 邪教 (zh) (xiéjiào), 異教／异教 (zh) (yìjiào), 异教 (zh) (yìjiào)

• Czech: kult (cs) m
• Danish: kult, sekt
• Dutch: sekte (nl) f
• Esperanto: sekto, kulto
• Estonian: kultus
• Finnish: lahko (fi), uskonlahko (fi), kultti (fi)
• French: secte (fr) f, culte (fr) m
• Georgian: კულტი (ḳulṭi)
• German: Sekte (de) f
• Greek: αίρεση (el) f (aíresi), λατρεία (el) f (latreía)
• Hebrew: כת (he) f (kat)
• Hungarian: kultusz (hu)
• Irish: cultas m
• Italian: culto (it) m
• Japanese: カルト (karuto)
• Korean: 컬트 (keolteu), 소종파 (sojongpa)
• Latin: cultus (la) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latvian: kults m
• Lithuanian: kultas m
• Macedonian: секта f (sekta), култ m (kult)
• Malay: kultus, taifah, sekte/sekta

  Indonesian: sekte (id)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kult, sekt

  Nynorsk: kult

• Persian: فرقه (fa) (ferqe)
• Polish: sekta (pl) f, kult (pl) m
• Portuguese: culto (pt) m, seita (pt) f
• Romanian: cult (ro) n
• Russian: культ (ru) m (kulʹt), се́кта (ru) f (sékta)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: култ m

  Roman: kult (sh) m

• Slovak: kult (sk) m
• Slovene: kult (sl) m
• Spanish: secta (es) f
• Swedish: sekt (sv), kult (sv)
• Tagalog: (literally) kulto
• Turkish: kült (tr), tapınç (tr), tarikat (tr)
• Ukrainian: культ m (kulʹt), се́кта (uk) f (sékta)

devotion to a saint

• Bulgarian: култ (bg) m (kult)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 崇拜 (zh) (chóngbài)

• Danish: kult c
• Dutch: cultus (nl) m
• Esperanto: kulto
• Finnish: kultti (fi)
• French: culte (fr) m
• German: Kult (de) m, Kultus (de) m
• Greek: θρησκεία (el) f (thriskeía), δόγμα (el) n (dógma)
• Hebrew: פּוּלְחָן (he) m (pulkhan)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: culto (it) m
• Japanese: 崇拝 (ja) (すうはい, sūhai)
• Macedonian: култ m (kult)
• Polish: kult (pl) m
• Portuguese: culto (pt) m, veneração (pt) f
• Russian: культ (ru) m (kulʹt)
• Spanish: veneración (es) f
• Swedish: kult (sv) c
• Turkish: tarikat (tr)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Maltese: ^{(please verify)} kult
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Norwegian: ^{(please verify)} kult

Adjective

cult (not comparable)

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

   a cult horror movie

3. Alternative form of kvlt.

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 (kultov)
• Danish: kult-
• Finnish: kultti-, lahkolais-
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: cultual

enjoyed by a small, loyal group

• Bulgarian: култов (kultov)
• Czech: kultovní (cs)
• Danish: kult-
• Finnish: kultti-
• French: culte (fr)
• German: Kult-
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Polish: kultowy (pl) m
• Portuguese: cult (pt)
• Russian: культовый (ru) (kulʹtovyj)
• Spanish: de culto
• Turkish: kült (tr)

See also

• new religious movement
• sect

Anagrams

• CLUT, L cut

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Ladin

Noun

cult m (plural cults)

1. cult, religion

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Portuguese

Etymology

(deprecated template usage)

Borrowed from English cult. Doublet of culto.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkuwt͡ʃ/

Adjective

1. cult (enjoyed by a small, loyal group)

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Romanian

Etymology

(deprecated template usage)

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kult/

Noun

cult n (plural culte)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Declension

Declension of cult

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) cult	cultul	(niște) culte	cultele
genitive/dative	(unui) cult	cultului	(unor) culte	cultelor
vocative	cultule		cultelor

Derived terms

• cultic