Here's the Oxford dictionary definition of the word cult …
noun
1 A system of religious veneration and devotion directed towards a particular figure or object.
‘the cult of St Olaf’ More example sentences- ‘The pre-Christian religion of the Fijians was both animistic and polytheistic, and included a cult of chiefly ancestors.’
- ‘The cult of the ancestors is practiced among many of the ethnic groups.’
- ‘As he notes, cults of holy images have been the subject of a long debate in Christianity.’
- ‘The support for Mary, a universal saint, may sometimes have been at the expense of local cults, making Marian devotions a central element in the progress of ultramontanism.’
- ‘At least one underground temple catacomb has been associated with the cult of a Mother Goddess.’
- ‘The cult image of Artemis was brought out from the inner sanctum and, gilded and white, shone brilliantly in the morning sun.’
- ‘Monks promoted the cult of their own saints and could write disparagingly of others.’
- ‘The cult of saints and their relics explains the popularity of pilgrimage.’
- 1.1 A relatively small group of people having religious beliefs or practices regarded by others as strange or as imposing excessive control over members.‘a network of Satan-worshipping cults’ More example sentences
- ‘The loss of life was terrible, but it was no more than one in a series of occasional tragedies caused by the misguided beliefs of cults and their members.’
- ‘Will witches, cults, and strange religions soon get taxpayers' dollars?’
- ‘Society suffers from dangerous sects and cults, militia movements, media control, and misrepresentations of psychiatric treatment and mental disorders.’
- ‘This definition actually denotes what we call denominations and sects and would make all religious movements a cult.’
- ‘His characters have run for president, hacked the New York Stock Exchange and joined the occasional religious cult.’
- ‘There were moments when I thought he would try to get me to join a bizarre gullibility cult.’
- ‘I heard that it had something to do with some kind of satanic cult.’
- ‘Maybe our whole culture is a destructive suicide cult.’
- ‘The street urchins lived in fear of some strange murderous cult.’
- ‘And their world view became embodied in a pagan cult.’
- ‘He even started a Sufi cult under his name that became also a place for mystics from different faiths too.’
- ‘A culture of peace, life and beauty became a suicide cult.’
- ‘The mystery cults usually enforced certain dietary rules and also required participation in various rites.’
- ‘In all of the cults, the killing of pigs was a major part of the cult activities.’
- ‘He also quotes a writer in 1939, who read a scene of nude figures carved upon a bowl as representing worshippers in a mystery cult.’
- ‘The belief system of many modern cults and spiritual groups is a hodgepodge conglomeration of ideas from religion, philosophy, psychology, the occult, and science.’
- ‘The promotion of the generative powers of earth, water, and human, animal, and fish populations is a common concern of major religions and small-scale cults the world over.’
- ‘Certain cults and religious specialists gain popularity beyond the local level because people feel that they can offer effective help for certain problems.’
- ‘These people include evangelical lay preachers, religious leaders associated with New Age religions, and leaders of religious movements designated as cults.’
- ‘He was not a common madman who thought he was God and established a cult dedicated to the veneration of himself.’
- 1.2 A misplaced or excessive admiration for a particular thing.‘the cult of the pursuit of money as an end in itself’ More example sentences
- ‘The fellow with the Village People mustache, who wears a white dress shirt and tie, is being marketed as a cult of personality.’
- ‘Does it bother you that there's a cult of personality built up around him?’
- ‘Or perhaps they center too much on the cult of personality from the opposing side.’
- ‘However, as this was primarily based on a cult of personality, it was inevitably short lived.’
- ‘The industry is feeding the cult of personality to these architect winemakers.’
- ‘He brooked no rivals, anointed no successors and developed a cult of personality that was indivisible from his people's hopes.’
- ‘Every President colludes with the American people to create his own cult of personality.’
- ‘Media-orchestrated cults of personality and shameless historical revisionism, they already know about.’
- ‘With the cult of the personality now stronger than at any time in sport, sports companies have tried to associate themselves with successes that are viewed worldwide.’
- ‘It is a very short step from institutionalised demonstrations of national loyalty to a mindless cult of ‘my country right or wrong’.’
- ‘Still others have cautioned against the spate of monuments that they see as celebrating the cult of the personality.’
- ‘He liked the comparison, and believes firmly in the cult of the personality as a valuable element in business development.’
- ‘However, the cult of the business personality was, in part, designed to serve as a distraction.’
- ‘The latter resonates with equal amounts of wry self-reflexivity and acknowledgement of issues concerning representation and cults of personality.’
- ‘During and after the war, a highly developed personality cult evolved.’
- ‘In stark contrast to so many other dictators, he never encouraged a cult of personality.’
- ‘Racial and sexual politics as well as the cult of celebrity get the treatment.’
- ‘The modern cult of the television celebrity… tends to handicap a living candidate.’
- ‘The nineteenth century cult of domesticity located its origin in this revolutionary development.’
- ‘Accordingly some aspects of domestic rectitude predated the cult of domesticity.’
2 A person or thing that is popular or fashionable among a particular group or section of society.