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The Overlap of Cults and Culture
Cult, which shares an origin with culture and cultivate, comes from the Latin cultus, a noun with meanings ranging from "tilling, cultivation" to "training or education" to "adoration." In English, cult has evolved a number of meanings following a fairly logical path. The earliest known uses of the word, recorded in the 17th century, broadly denoted "worship." From here cult came to refer to a specific branch of a religion or the rites and practices of that branch, as in "the cult of Dionysus." By the early 18th century, cult could refer to a non-religious admiration or devotion, such as to a person, idea, or fad ("the cult of success"). Finally, by the 19th century, the word came to be used of "a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious."
Examples of cult in a Sentence
Tomás Mier, Rolling Stone, 27 Dec. 2024
What started as an inconspicuous boy-meets-girl tale swiftly became a cult classic in the U.K.
—Lily Ford, The Hollywood Reporter, 25 Dec. 2024
Nearly 30 years after Adam Sandler’s golf comedy Happy Gilmore became a cult classic, the beloved character is making a triumphant return in the Netflix sequel, Happy Gilmore 2.
—Elizabeth Rosner, People.com, 25 Dec. 2024
On social media, there’s an incentive to put the appeal to AI front and center for engagement; there’s a whole cult of AI influencer weirdos who are more than happy to boost this stuff.
—Elizabeth Lopatto, The Verge, 23 Dec. 2024
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Dictionary Entries Near cult
Cite this Entry
“Cult.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cult. Accessed 3 Jan. 2025.
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