What exactly is a cult?

I kinda think I know...

what a cult is...

but someone explain this...

please...

I dont understand

1. a particular system of religious worship, esp. with reference to its rites and ceremonies.
2. an instance of great veneration of a person, ideal, or thing, esp. as manifested by a body of admirers: the physical fitness cult.
3. the object of such devotion.
4. a group or sect bound together by veneration of the same thing, person, ideal, etc.
5. Sociology. a group having a sacred ideology and a set of rites centering around their sacred symbols.
6. a religion or sect considered to be false, unorthodox, or extremist, with members often living outside of conventional society under the direction of a charismatic leader.
7. the members of such a religion or sect.
8. any system for treating human sickness that originated by a person usually claiming to have sole insight into the nature of disease, and that employs methods regarded as unorthodox or unscientific.
–adjective
9. of or pertaining to a cult.
10. of, for, or attracting a small group of devotees: a cult movie.

Number six above in iffy's advice says it all. Holy Rollers are a cult, Pentacostals. I should know, attended the church for six years. Took me that long to figure out who & what they were. Supposed to be Jesus name people. Some were but quite a few weren't!

itz a females private part down dur put it like that

a community with spl beliefs and rituals..

Definition:

A group or doctrine with religious, philosophical or cultural identity sometimes viewed as a sect, often existent on the margins of society.

Devotion to a saint.

A group that exploits members psychologically and/or financially, typically by making members comply with leadership's demands through certain types of psychological manipulation, popularly called mind control, and through the inculcation of deep-seated anxious dependency on the group and its leaders.

Originally it was a term to describe a system of religious beliefs. Then it became a term to describe a religious belief not recognized as an established religion, and/or the people subscribing to that religion. Today it has taken on a negative connotation. One where not only are the beliefs not acknowledged by conventional religions but where the members are segregated from friends and family and their spiritual and worldly views come from one source, usually a leader or their representative.

A group outside of mainstream Christianity, that share teachings and beliefs that are different from what most agree on.