splinter group

noun

1. a small organization that becomes separated from or acts apart from an original larger group or a number of other small groups, with which it would normally be united, as because of disagreement.

splinter group

noun

1. a number of members of an organization, political party, etc, who split from the main body and form an independent association, usually as the result of dissension

Idioms and Phrases

A part of an organization that breaks away from the main body, usually owing to disagreement. For example, Perot's supporters at first constituted a splinter group but soon formed a third political party. This idiom alludes to the noun splinter, a fragment of wood or some other material that is split or broken off. [Mid-1900s]

Example Sentences

Even though he had been officially adopted by the party's ruling body, another candidate from a splinter group also registered himself under the party's name.

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Then he mocked the “tiny splinter group … that believes you can do these things. … Their number is negligible and they are stupid.”

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A splinter group, the Northeast cartel, was among those designated as a terrorist organization last month by the Trump administration.

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The latter group was also racked with infighting between established members and splinter groups pushing explicitly white nationalist ideas.

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It is designated as one by the UN, US, EU and UK, among many others, as it started as a splinter group of al-Qaeda, which it broke away from in 2016.

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