Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of factional
Explanation
Something that's factional is broken into smaller parts. A government that's divided into opposing groups faces factional bickering that can make it hard to accomplish much of anything. Factional comes from faction and its Latin root, factionem, "political party or class of people." Your huge family might be split into factions that are bitterly divided about where to go for dinner while on vacation, with nightly factional bickering over pizza versus seafood. Any group that includes smaller, highly opinionated groups within it can be described as factional.
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.
Ordained a priest in 2002, she became the first female Bishop of London in 2018, only four years after the church began allowing women bishops after years of bitter factional wrangling.
From Barron's ● Mar. 25, 2026
Ms. Machado’s acceptance by a national majority reduces uncertainty, discourages factional violence, and channels political energy toward institutional restoration instead of confrontation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 1, 2025
Unfortunately, factional friction is pretty much all that Martin has presided over since.
From Slate ● Jun. 21, 2025
But its inevitable outcome, he argues, is mob rule, bitter factional division, the debasement of civic culture and finally some version of Caesarism.
From Salon ● Jan. 5, 2025
But when I urge him to speak out, to raise public interest as a defense against factional intrigue, he does not hear me.
From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin
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.
