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Clapham Sect

British  
/ ˈklæpəm /

noun

  1. a group of early 19th-century Church of England evangelicals advocating personal piety, the abolition of slavery, etc

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of Clapham Sect

C19: named after Clapham, a district of London

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

I think Stephen's article on the Clapham Sect the best thing he ever did, I do not think with you that the Claphamites were men too obscure for such delineation.

From Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay Volume 1 by Trevelyan, George Otto, Sir

This became the admirable essay on the Clapham Sect.

From Studies in Literature by Morley, John

But one always seems to find that neither a wide range of cultivation, nor familiar access to the best Whig circles, had quite removed the stiffness and self-conscious precision of the Clapham Sect.

From Critical Miscellanies, Volume I (of 3) Essay 4: Macaulay by Morley, John

See also the various memoirs of Whitfield, Wesley, &c.; and Sir J. Stephens Essays on "The Clapham Sect" and "The Evangelical Succession."

From Notes and Queries, Number 197, August 6, 1853 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc. by Bell, George

The young man's father—now happily deceased—had offered an instructive example of social and religious survival—survival, to be explicit, of the once famous Clapham Sect, and that in its least agreeable aspect.

From The Far Horizon by Malet, Lucas