a body of persons adhering to a particular religious faith; a religious denomination.
a group regarded as heretical or as deviating from a generally accepted religious tradition.
(in the sociology of religion) a Christian denomination characterized by insistence on strict qualifications for membership, as distinguished from the more inclusive groups called churches.
any group, party, or faction united by a specific doctrine or under a doctrinal leader.
a subdivision of a larger religious group (esp the Christian Church as a whole) the members of which have to some extent diverged from the rest by developing deviating beliefs, practices, etc
derogatory
a schismatic religious body characterized by an attitude of exclusivity in contrast to the more inclusive religious groups called denominations or Churches
a religious group regarded as extreme or heretical
a group of people with a common interest, doctrine, etc; faction
1300–50; Middle English secte < Latin secta something to follow, pathway, course of conduct, school of thought, probably noun derivative of sectārī to pursue, accompany, wait upon, frequentative of sequī to follow
From Latin sectus, past participle of secāre “to cut”
A sect is a religious group that exists inside of a larger religion. Think of it as a section of a particular religion. Although objectively speaking a sect is merely a subdivision of a larger religious group, the word often carries with it the feeling of a part of a religion that has broken away. It often has a negative connotation in English because it implies that the group departed from what was standard to believe something different or odd. If you are comparing two sects you might talk about their sectarian differences.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Not all Shias saw Khamenei as their principal religious guide, but he became widely respected as a clerical authority and for standing up for a sect that has historically felt persecuted.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026
Thousands of members of a powerful Philippine religious sect rallied in Manila on Tuesday, snarling traffic as they protested the expected arrest of a senator and church member.
From Barron's ● Jun. 30, 2026
These minute works are packed with detail: Their flickering candles, flitting moths and glowering skulls appear as if they’ve been excavated from some illuminated manuscript belonging to a long-vanished medieval sect.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 14, 2026
The hair-whipping, chest-thumping church founder uprooted her polarizing sect from Manchester, England, to Manhattan before fleeing farther still into the countryside.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 10, 2026
I highly doubted a Hasidic holy man was hiding in the brick-and-metal heart of Chicago, much less that Frankie, coming from the opposing Misnagdic sect of Judaism, would want anything to do with one.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
Palmatifid, -lobed, -sect, palmately cleft, or lobed, or divided.
From The Elements of Botany For Beginners and For Schools by Gray, Asa
“His followers go along with what he says as if they were members of a sect. If he says it’s no problem to go out, people believe him,” Marino said.
From The Guardian ● May 8, 2020
Rev. Charles Forster's Historical Geography of Arabia, part i. sect. vi., in which he discusses "the vestiges of Arab colonies, and maintains the Arabo-Abrahamic origin of the Greeks."
From Notes and Queries, Number 70, March 1, 1851 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc. by Bell, George
Bretschneider, Die Religiose Glaubenslehre, sect. 20-21. are the root by which we grow out of God, and the stem by which we are grafted into him.
From The Destiny of the Soul A Critical History of the Doctrine of a Future Life by Alger, William Rounseville
In the Apostolical Constitutions, book ii. sect. xxviii., the attendants at public worship are enjoined to pray to God eastward.
From The Principles of Gothic Ecclesiastical Architecture, Elucidated by Question and Answer, 4th ed. by Bloxam, Matthew Holbeche
And errors of this sort are common to all things that have sense.”—Computation or Logic, ch. v., sect. 1.19.Ch. iii. sect.
From A System Of Logic, Ratiocinative And Inductive (Vol. 1 of 2) by Mill, John Stuart
Its tens of thousands of active-duty soldiers reflect the mosaic that is the country, with representation from all sects.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 9, 2026
"All sects used to celebrate with us, and we hope to see this in the coming years, in order to rebuild Syria," she added.
From Barron's ● Dec. 24, 2025
People who had travelled to Idlib to see him said that he had developed a much more pragmatic set of beliefs, better suited to governing Syria, with its spectrum of religious sects.
From BBC ● Dec. 8, 2025
In the end, wrote Burger, the track record of the Amish in maintaining alternative modes of informal vocational education was a showing “that probably few other religious groups or sects could make.”
From Slate ● Jul. 1, 2025
About three or four such Hasidic sects populated the area in which Danny and I grew up, each with its own rabbi, its own little synagogue, its own customs, its own fierce loyalties.
From "The Chosen" by Chaim Potok
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.
