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sect

   Also found in: Acronyms, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.02 sec.
sect  (skt)
n.
1. A group of people forming a distinct unit within a larger group by virtue of certain refinements or distinctions of belief or practice.
2. A religious body, especially one that has separated from a larger denomination.
3. A faction united by common interests or beliefs.

[Middle English secte, from Old French, from Latin secta, course, school of thought, from feminine past participle of sequ, to follow; see sekw-1 in Indo-European roots.]

sect
Noun
1. a subdivision of a larger religious or political group, esp. one regarded as extreme in its beliefs or practices
2. a group of people with a common interest or philosophy [Latin secta faction]

Sect the group of people who follow a particular creed or embrace a certain set of opinions or rituals.
Examples: sect of astronomers, 1837; of atheists, 1692; of flatterers and Hostlers, 1515; of Lollards, 1390; of men of letters, 1776; of old maids, 1788; of pathologists and theorists, 1843; of philosophers; of physicians, 1628; of thieves and murderers, 1568; of writers, 1609.
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Noun1.sectsect - a subdivision of a larger religious group
sisterhood - a religious society of women who live together as sisters (especially an order of nuns)
organized religion, religion, faith - an institution to express belief in a divine power; "he was raised in the Baptist religion"; "a member of his own faith contradicted him"
Albigenses, Cathari, Cathars - a Christian religious sect in southern France in the 12th and 13th centuries; believers in Albigensianism
High Anglican Church, High Church - a group in the Anglican Church that emphasizes the Catholic tradition (especially in sacraments and rituals and obedience to church authority)
Abecedarian - a 16th century sect of Anabaptists centered in Germany who had an absolute disdain for human knowledge
Amish sect - an orthodox Anabaptist sect separated from the Mennonites in late 17th century; settled chiefly in southeastern Pennsylvania
Karaites - a Jewish sect that recognizes only the Hebrew Scriptures as the source of divinely inspired legislation and denies the authority of the postbiblical tradition of the Talmud; the sect arose in Iraq in the eighth century
Shia, Shiah, Shiah Islam - one of the two main branches of orthodox Islam; mainly in Iran
Sunni Islam, Sunni - one of the two main branches of orthodox Islam
Shivaism, Sivaism - a Hindu sect worshiping Shiva
Saktism, Shaktism - a Hindu sect worshiping Shakti
Vaishnavism, Vaisnavism - Hindu sect worshiping of Vishnu
Haredi - any of several sects of Orthodox Judaism that reject modern secular culture and many of whom do not recognize the spiritual authority of the modern state of Israel
International Society for Krishna Consciousness, ISKCON, Hare Krishna - a religious sect founded in the United States in 1966; based on Vedic scriptures; groups engage in joyful chanting of `Hare Krishna' and other mantras based on the name of the Hindu god Krishna; devotees usually wear saffron robes and practice vegetarianism and celibacy
Jainism - sect founded in the 6th century BC as a revolt against Hinduism
Taoism - a Chinese sect claiming to follow the teaching of Lao-tzu but incorporating pantheism and sorcery in addition to Taoism
Kokka, Kokka Shinto - the branch of Shinto recognized as the official state religion of Japan
Shua, Shuha Shinto - any branch of Shinto other than Kokka
brethren - (plural) the lay members of a male religious order
monastic order, order - a group of person living under a religious rule; "the order of Saint Benedict"
Quakers, Religious Society of Friends, Society of Friends - a Christian sect founded by George Fox about 1660; commonly called Quakers
Shakers, United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing - a celibate and communistic Christian sect in the United States
Vaudois, Waldenses - a Christian sect of dissenters that originated in southern France in the late 12th century adopted Calvinist doctrines in the 16th century
Zurvanism - a Zoroastrian sect that claims Zurvan was the ultimate source of the universe
convent - a community of people in a religious order (especially nuns) living together
2.sect - a dissenting clique
clique, coterie, ingroup, inner circle, camp, pack - an exclusive circle of people with a common purpose
splinter group - a faction or sect that has broken away from its parent organization
left wing, left - those who support varying degrees of social or political or economic change designed to promote the public welfare
right wing, right - those who support political or social or economic conservatism; those who believe that things are better left unchanged
old guard - a faction that is unwilling to accept new ideas
pro-choice faction - those who argue that the decision to have an induced abortion should be made by the mother
pro-life faction - those who argue that induced abortion is killing and should be prohibited

sect
Translations
Spanish sect [sɛkt] nsecta
French sect [sɛkt] nsecte f
German sect [sɛkt] nSekte f
Italian sect [sɛkt] nsetta

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These extravagances, and the persecution which was at once their cause and consequence, continued to increase, till, in the year 1659, the government of Massachusetts Bay indulged two members of the Quaker sect with a crown of martyrdom.
The Bedlamites and the Helldamites were twin slave organizations, while a new religious sect that did not flourish long was called The Wrath of God.
The poet, that beautified the sect, that was otherwise inferior to the rest, saith yet excellently well: It is a pleasure, to stand upon the shore, and to see ships tossed upon the sea; a pleasure, to stand in the window of a castle, and to see a battle, and the adventures thereof below: but no pleasure is comparable to the standing upon the vantage ground of truth
 
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