Sect
noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 An offshoot of a larger religion or denomination.
"a religious sect"
- 2 An ancient astrological concept, a form of polarity by which heavenly bodies were designated as either diurnal or nocturnal. historical, uncountable
- 3 a subdivision of a larger religious group wordnet
- 4 A group following a specific ideal or a leader.
"Zen Center welcomes visitors, guests, and prospective students, but it does not engage in systematic institutional or network recruiting of new members, unlike the Christian sect and Erhard Seminars Training."
- 5 a dissenting clique wordnet
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- 6 A cutting; a scion. obsolete
Example
More examples"We exorcise you, every unclean spirit, every satanic power, every incursion of the infernal adversary, every legion, every congregation and diabolical sect."
Etymology
From Middle English secte, from Old French secte (“a sect in philosophy or religion”), from Late Latin secta (“a sect in philosophy or religion, a school, party, faction, class, guild, band, particularly a heretical doctrine or sect, etc.”), possibly, from Latin sequi (“to follow”). Alternatively linked to sectus (“cut off, divided”), past participle of secō.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.