sectary
Americannoun
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a member of a particular sect, especially an adherent of a religious body regarded as heretical or schismatic.
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a Protestant of nonconformist denomination, especially a minor one.
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a person zealously devoted to a particular sect.
noun
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a member of a sect, esp a person who belongs to a religious sect that is regarded as heretical or schismatic
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a person excessively devoted to a particular sect
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a member of a Nonconformist denomination, esp one that is small
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of sectary
1550–60; < Medieval Latin sectārius, equivalent to sect ( a ) sect + -ārius -ary
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.
See Examples For:
The latter was commissioned by the home sectary and Sir Ken.
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2025
An ex-senior adviser recalled being sent a document about a reform agenda and a permanent sectary ordering them to "just bin it immediately".
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2023
At first he was regarded by his "pastors and masters" as a mere wilful, noisy, praying sectary.
From Mystic London: or, Phases of occult life in the metropolis by Davies, Charles Maurice
As truth was the sole object of his researches, he was, of course, no sectary: and as reason was his guide, he embraced no system which that did not authorize.
From Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin; Written by Himself. [Vol. 1 of 2] With His Most Interesting Essays, Letters, and Miscellaneous Writings; Familiar, Moral, Political, Economical, and Philosophical by Franklin, Benjamin
In both, the imperial and official worship was political and indifferent to dogma without being hostile, provided no sectary refused to call the Emperor Son of Heaven or sacrifice to his image.
From Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 3 by Eliot, Charles, Sir
Salon called and emailed the offices of sectaries Kerry and Carter, as well as the Departments of State and Defense, multiple times with requests for comment.
From Salon ● Mar. 17, 2016
Her father gets his graceful due: To truth a shield, to right a wall, To sectaries a whip and maul.
From Time Magazine Archive
These new California sectaries around Miller are no exception.
From Time Magazine Archive
Why the morals of the common people are more regular in sectaries than under the established church, ib.
From An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Garnier, Germain
In fact, the first attacks upon the temporal power of the Pope came from the sectaries abroad.
From The War Upon Religion Being an Account of the Rise and Progress of Anti-christianism in Europe by Cunningham, Francis A. (Francis Aloysius)
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.
