cultish/cult-like/can these words be used to describe behavior?

[navi tasan]

Which are correct and make sense?

1) His cult-like admiration for his boss is strange.
2) His cultish admiration for his boss is strange.
3) His culty admiration for his boss is strange.

4) His cult-like behavior is annoying.
5) His cultish behavior is annoying.
6) His culty behavior is annoying.

His admiration/behavior was like a cult member's. That is the idea.

This is a question about word usage.

The word 'culty' seems a bit dubious. My spellchecker doesn't like it, but it can be found in a few dictionaries:

culty meaning: Obsessively devoted to specific group - OneLook

onelook.com

 

[Tarheel]

I think the first one is OK. (I don't think you need a hyphen.)

 

[jutfrank]

I'd use 'cultish' or possibly 'cultlike'. Definitely not 'culty'.

 

[Skrej]

I was surprised to see that 'culty' was a real word. The onelook links seem to suggest it exists only in BrE (via Collins). The other two entries lead to inconclusive and vague Wikipedia entries, which I'd tend to disregard.

I however have to begrudgingly accept the Collins entry. My spellcheck flags it as well, but then that's not conclusive as it has occasionally flagged other 'real' words from time to time.

 

[Rover_KE]

I advise you all to avoid using any of the above adjectives.

There's a real possibility of them being misheard/misspelt/misunderstood/mispronounced with very embarrassing results.

 

[tedmc]

His cult-like admiration for his boss is strange.

How about replacing the phrase with "idolization"?

 

[jutfrank]

I advise you all to avoid using any of the above adjectives.

There's a real possibility of them being misheard/misspelt/misunderstood/mispronounced with very embarrassing results.

Huh? Are you thinking what I think you're thinking?

 

[Rover_KE]

Indubitably.