Pronunciation: 'k&lt
Function: noun
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: French & Latin; French culte, from Latin cultus care, adoration, from colere to cultivate
Date: 1617

formal religious veneration worship

1. a system of religious beliefs and ritual; also : its body of adherents
2. a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious; also : its body of adherents
3. a system for the cure of disease based on dogma set forth by its promulgator <health cults>
4. a : great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work (as a film or book); especially : such devotion regarded as a literary or intellectual fad
   b : a usually small group of people characterized by such devotion

- cul·tic /'k&l-tik/ adjective
- cult·ish /-tish/ adjective
- cult·ish·ly /-lE/ adverb
- cult·ish·ness /-n&s/ noun
- cult·ism /'k&l-"ti-z&m/ noun
- cult·ist /'k&l-tist/ noun
- cult·like /-"lIk/ adjective

Synonyms

1, creed, faith, persuasion.

2, church, communion, connection, creed, denomination, faith, persuasion, sect.

 

from Merriam-Webster Dictionary