cultish


Also found in: Thesaurus, Medical, Encyclopedia.

cult

 (kŭlt)
n.
1.
a. A religion or religious sect generally considered to be extremist or false, with its followers often living in an unconventional manner under the guidance of an authoritarian, charismatic leader.
b. The followers of such a religion or sect.
2. A system or community of religious worship and ritual.
3. The formal means of expressing religious reverence; religious ceremony and ritual.
4. A usually nonscientific method or regimen claimed by its originator to have exclusive or exceptional power in curing a particular disease.
5.
a. Obsessive, especially faddish, devotion to or veneration for a person, principle, or thing.
b. The object of such devotion.
6. An exclusive group of persons sharing an esoteric, usually artistic or intellectual interest.

[Latin cultus, worship, from past participle of colere, to cultivate; see kwel- in Indo-European roots.]

cul′tic, cult′ish adj.
cult′ism n.
cult′ist n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

cultish

(ˈkʌltɪʃ) or

culty

adj
intended to appeal to a small group of fashionable people
ˈcultishly adv
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
Mentioned in ?
References in periodicals archive ?
As Beyond Meat's share price continues to rise, Dusaniwsky said both longs and shorts are "becoming more cultish" and digging in their heels, a similar dynamic to what he's seen with Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA).
Rocky Horror Show is a celebration of dodgy B movies from the 1930s and the cultish feel is strong.
The commodification of cultish allegiance to Shawns and Shanes of the world and beyond!
Haley is a star in the GOP, but even if she managed to defeat the sitting president in a 2020 Republican primary -- an unlikely scenario -- she would risk losing the sizable, cultish wing of the GOP that will support Trump now and forever.
Kidman's current film, 'Destroyer' is a story about a female detective Erin Bell (Nicole Kidman), whose undercover work inside a cultish gang in the California desert at the beginning of her career ends in tragedy, leaving her with enduring psychic scars, reports Deadline.
The current ruling party, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) has Imran Khan as its cultish leader and no family descendants, but whether the party can even function without him as a figurehead is arguable.
Both believe in wild conspiracy theories, both seek to control and subdue the free press, both have cultish followers who leap to defend often offensive and dangerous language delivered by their leaders, and both are busily trying to defend their past comments and actions.
The daring, cultish premise allows larger themes on adulthood, expectations, illusions, and the nature of friendship to emerge.
Will that cultish selfbelief now infect the rest of the country?
Johnson was dubbed "Airbnb's Sheryl Sandberg" by online publication Backchannel which writes, "Under her watch, the company has created a cultish social movement around its efforts to connect strangers and foster cultural belonging."
There were rumors of cultish rituals - Choi's father was the leader of a cult - being performed in the presidential palace.