sect
n. countablen. a group of people with shared religious or political beliefs, often distinct from a larger group. You use this word when a subgroup has strong, specific views that set them apart.
n. a distinct subgroup within a larger religious, political, or ideological body, characterized by specific doctrines or practices. Often implies a degree of separation or exclusivity from the mainstream.
The small sect met in the basement every Sunday.
The new sect attracted followers who felt the main church had become too commercial and distant.
Historians often debate whether the early Christian communities were merely sects within Judaism or the beginnings of a distinct, universal religion.
From Middle English secte, from Old French secte (“a sect in philosophy or religion”), from Late Latin secta (“a sect in philosophy or religion, a school, party, faction, class, guild, band, particularly a heretical doctrine or sect, etc.”), possibly, from Latin sequi (“to follow”). Alternatively linked to sectus (“cut off, divided”), past participle of secō.