cult
Pronunciation: /kʌlt/
noun
- 1a system of religious veneration and devotion directed towards a particular figure or object: the cult of St Olaf
- 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
- a misplaced or excessive admiration for a particular thing: the cult of the pursuit of money as an end in itself
Origin:
early 17th century (originally denoting homage paid to a divinity): from French culte or Latin cultus 'worship', from cult- 'inhabited, cultivated, worshipped', from the verb colere