Sect vs. Cult

Sectnoun

An offshoot of a larger religion; a group sharing particular (often unorthodox) political and/or religious beliefs.

Sectnoun

A group following a specific ideal or a leader.

Sectnoun

(obsolete) A cutting; a scion.

Sectnoun

A cutting; a scion.

Sectnoun

Those following a particular leader or authority, or attached to a certain opinion; a company or set having a common belief or allegiance distinct from others; in religion, the believers in a particular creed, or upholders of a particular practice; especially, in modern times, a party dissenting from an established church; a denomination; in philosophy, the disciples of a particular master; a school; in society and the state, an order, rank, class, or party.

Sectnoun

a subdivision of a larger religious group

Sectnoun

a dissenting clique

Sect

A sect is a subgroup of a religious, political, or philosophical belief system, usually an offshoot of a larger group. Although the term was originally a classification for religious separated groups, it can now refer to any organization that breaks away from a larger one to follow a different set of rules and principles.

Cultnoun

A group or sect of people with a religious, philosophical or cultural identity, often existing on the margins of society or exploitative towards its members.

Cultnoun

Devotion to a saint.

Cultnoun

A religion that evolved out of another religion but has become a different religion through developing a radically different theology.

Cultnoun

(informal) A group of people having an obsession with or intense admiration for a particular activity, idea, person or thing.

Cultadjective

Of or relating to a cult.

Cultadjective

Enjoyed by a small, loyal group.

Cultnoun

Attentive care; homage; worship.

Cultnoun

A system of religious belief and worship.

Cultnoun

A system of intense religious veneration of a particular person, idea, or object, especially one considered spurious or irrational by traditional religious bodies; as, the Moonie cult.

Cultnoun

The group of individuals who adhere to a cult (senses 2 or 3).

Cultnoun

A strong devotion or interest in a particular person, idea or thing without religious associations, or the people holding such an interest; as, the cult of James Dean; the cult of personality in totalitarian societies.

Cultnoun

adherents of an exclusive system of religious beliefs and practices

Cultnoun

an interest followed with exaggerated zeal;

Cultnoun

a system of religious beliefs and rituals;

Cultnoun

a system of religious veneration and devotion directed towards a particular figure or object

Cultnoun

a relatively small group of people having religious beliefs or practices regarded by others as strange or as imposing excessive control over members

Cultnoun

a misplaced or excessive admiration for a particular thing

Cultnoun

a person or thing that is popular or fashionable among a particular group or section of society

Cult

In modern English, a cult is a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs, or by its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. This sense of the term is controversial, having divergent definitions both in popular culture and academia, and has also been an ongoing source of contention among scholars across several fields of study.