Meanings
plural doomsday cults
- A cult that believes in apocalypticism and millenarianism.
- broadlya group that has lost touch with reality.
This raised doubts about their competence and, indeed, their connection to reality; it’s never good when economists at major banks declare that a country’s ruling party has become a doomsday cult.
2022 October 3, Paul Krugman, “How Liz Truss Did So Much Damage in So Few Days”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
Origin
Coined by American sociologist John Lofland in 1966 in his book Doomsday Cult: A Study of Conversion, Proselytization, and Maintenance of Faith
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
doomsday cult. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/doomsday%20cult
“doomsday cult.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/doomsday%20cult. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “doomsday cult,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/doomsday%20cult.
Source: doomsday cult on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.