I. ˈsekt noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English secte, from Middle French & Late Latin & Latin; Middle French, group, sect, from Late Latin secta organized ecclesiastical body, from Latin, way of life, school of thought, class of persons, from sequi to follow — more at sue
1.
a. : a dissenting religious body ; especially : one that is heretical in the eyes of other members within the same communion
b. : a group within an organized religion whose adherents recognize a special set of teachings or practices
the Pharisees have been called a sect within Judaism
c. : an organized ecclesiastical body ; specifically : one outside one's own communion
offered religious freedom to all sects except the Roman Catholics
d. : a comparatively small recently organized exclusive religious body ; especially : one that has parted company with a longer-established communion
2.
a. obsolete : a class, order, or kind of persons
b. archaic : a religious order
c. archaic : sex
so is all her sect — Shakespeare
3.
a. : a separate group adhering to a distinctive doctrine or way of thinking or to a particular leader
fashionable … among many different sects of writers — L.S.Woolf
b. : a school of philosophy or of philosophic opinion
the sect Epicurean — John Milton
c. : a group holding similar political, economic, or other views: as
(1) : party
(2) : an opinionated faction (as of a party)
Trotskyism … and other independent communist sects — Jim Cork
(3) : a school of opinion (as in science or medicine)
medical sects in ancient Greece
4. obsolete : a body of followers : following
Synonyms: see religion
II. abbreviation
section; sectional