Cult Of Personality Definition & Meaning

Definition

Etymology

Examples

cult of personality American

noun

1. a cult promoting adulation of a living national leader or public figure, as one encouraged by Stalin to extend his power.

Etymology

Origin of cult of personality

Probably earlier than 1965–70; translation of Russian kulʾt líchnosti

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Jobs is a “cult of personality,” and people collect items tied to the tech mogul.

From Los Angeles Times

The Kim family has ruled North Korea with an iron grip for decades, and a cult of personality surrounding their so-called "Paektu bloodline" dominates daily life in the isolated country.

From Barron's

It’s nice to be the figurehead in the cult of personality, but these are truly the best people in the business.

From Los Angeles Times

Perhaps the lone exception in Eastern Europe was Romania, where Nicolae Ceaușescu — who had broken with Moscow years earlier — maintained a rigid dictatorship and cult of personality up until he faced a firing squad.

From Salon

Such utopian — and even messianic — ideologies typically contain a “pseudoreligious quality” that elicit an unwavering passion among their followers, even a cult of personality.

From Salon

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.