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sect - 8 dictionary results

sect

  [sekt]
Use sect in a Sentence
–noun
1. a body of persons adhering to a particular religious faith; a religious denomination.
2. a group regarded as heretical or as deviating from a generally accepted religious tradition.
3. (in the sociology of religion) a Christian denomination characterized by insistence on strict qualifications for membership, as distinguished from the more inclusive groups called churches.
4. any group, party, or faction united by a specific doctrine or under a doctrinal leader.
Origin:
1300–50; ME secte < L secta something to follow, pathway, course of conduct, school of thought, prob. n. deriv. of sectārī to pursue, accompany, wait upon, freq. of sequī to follow

sect.

 
section.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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sect   (sěkt)   
n.  
  1. A group of people forming a distinct unit within a larger group by virtue of certain refinements or distinctions of belief or practice.
  2. A religious body, especially one that has separated from a larger denomination.
  3. A faction united by common interests or beliefs.

[Middle English secte, from Old French, from Latin secta, course, school of thought, from feminine past participle of sequī, to follow; see sekw-1 in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Sect

Sect\, n. [L. secare, sectum, to cut.] A cutting; a scion. [Obs.] --Shak.

Sect

Sect\, n. [F. secte, L. sects, fr. sequi to follew; often confused with L. secare, sectum, to cut. See Sue to follow, and cf. Sept, Suit, n.] Those following a particular leader or authority, or attached to a certain opinion; a company or set having a common belief or allegiance distinct from others; in religion, the believers in a particular creed, or upholders of a particular practice; especially, in modern times, a party dissenting from an established church; a denomination; in philosophy, the disciples of a particular master; a school; in society and the state, an order, rank, class, or party.

He beareth the sign of poverty, And in that sect our Savior saved all mankind. --Piers Plowman.

As of the sect of which that he was born, He kept his lay, to which that he was sworn. --Chaucer.

The cursed sect of that detestable and false prophet Mohammed. --Fabyan.

As concerning this sect [Christians], we know that everywhere it is spoken against. --Acts xxviii. 22.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : sect
Spanish: secta,
German: die Sekte,
Japanese: 分派
More Translations »

sect

A religious group, especially one that has separated from a larger group. Sect is often a term of disapproval.

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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sect 
c.1300, "distinctive system of beliefs or observances; party or school within a religion," from O.Fr. secte, from L.L. secta "religious group, sect," from L. secta "manner, mode, following, school of thought," lit. "a way, road," from fem. of sectus, variant pp. of sequi "follow," from PIE *sekw- "to follow" (see sequel). Confused in this sense with L. secta, fem. pp. of secare "to cut" (see section). Meaning "separately organized religious body" is recorded from 1577. Sectarian first recorded 1649, originally applied by Presbyterians to Independents, from M.L. sectarius, from secta.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Sect

(Gr. hairesis, usually rendered "heresy", Acts 24:14; 1 Chr. 11:19; Gal. 5:20, etc.), meaning properly "a choice," then "a chosen manner of life," and then "a religious party," as the "sect" of the Sadducees (Acts 5:17), of the Pharisees (15:5), the Nazarenes, i.e., Christians (24:5). It afterwards came to be used in a bad sense, of those holding pernicious error, divergent forms of belief (2 Pet. 2:1; Gal. 5:20).

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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