cult
pronunciation
How to pronounce cult in British English:
UK [kʌlt]
How to pronounce cult in American English:
US [kʌlt]
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- Noun:
- adherents of an exclusive system of religious beliefs and practices
- an interest followed with exaggerated zeal
- a system of religious beliefs and rituals
Word Origin
- cult
- cult: [17] The Indo-European base *quel-,* quoldenoted primarily ‘move around, turn’ (it is the source of English cycle and wheel). By metaphorical extension it came to signify ‘be busy’, which later branched out in two semantic directions: ‘inhabiting a place’ and ‘making a wild place suitable for crops’. These are both channelled into Latin colere, which meant ‘inhabit’, ‘cultivate’, and also ‘worship’.The notion of ‘inhabiting’ is reflected in its descendant colony, but its past participial stem cult- has bequeathed us other aspects of its meaning. ‘Worship’ is represented by cult, acquired via French culte or directly from Latin cultus. ‘Developing the land’ appears in cultivate [17], from the medieval Latin derivative cultivāre, and by metaphorical extension in culture [15], from French culture, which originally meant ‘piece of tilled land’.=> colony, cultivate, culture, cycle, wheel
- cult (n.)
- 1610s, "worship," also "a particular form of worship," from French culte (17c.), from Latin cultus "care, labor; cultivation, culture; worship, reverence," originally "tended, cultivated," past participle of colere "to till" (see colony). Rare after 17c.; revived mid-19c. with reference to ancient or primitive rituals. Meaning "a devotion to a person or thing" is from 1829. Cult. An organized group of people, religious or not, with whom you disagree. [Rawson]
Example
- 1. The birth of the cult of fine wine can be dated precisely .
- 2. He has exploited the cult of che in particular .
- 3. Yet the cult of positive thinking , especially in america , is a billion-dollar industry .
- 4. The book became a cult classic .
- 5. All of this seems well beyond the capabilities of a small cult known mainly for its views on secular education .