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# The Good Oil Word of the Day
- URL: https://goodoil.news/the-good-oil-word-of-the-day-478/
- Published: 2025-11-30T17:15:45.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-30T17:15:45.000Z
- Author: David Theobald
- Tags: General, Word of the Day

The word for today is…

cult (noun) -

1: a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious, also : its body of adherents  
2a: great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work (such as a film or book)  
b: the object of such devotion  
c: a usually small group of people characterized by such devotion  
3: a system of religious beliefs and ritual, also : its body of adherents  
4: formal religious veneration : worship  
5: a system for the cure of disease based on dogma set forth by its promulgator

Source : [Merriam-Webster](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cult?ref=goodoil.news)

Etymology : Cult, which shares an origin with culture and cultivate, comes from the Latin cultus, a noun with meanings ranging from "tilling, cultivation" to "training or education" to "adoration." In English, cult has evolved a number of meanings following a fairly logical path. The earliest known uses of the word, recorded in the 17th century, broadly denoted "worship." From here cult came to refer to a specific branch of a religion or the rites and practices of that branch, as in "the cult of Dionysus." By the early 18th century, cult could refer to a non-religious admiration or devotion, such as to a person, idea, or fad ("the cult of success"). Finally, by the 19th century, the word came to be used of "a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious."

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