schism
/ˈskɪzəm/
schism noun: a split or separation within a group or organization, typically caused by discord.
Noun
schism (plural schisms)
- A split or separation within a group or organization, typically caused by discord.
- A schism broke the organization into two rivals.
- Despite personal schisms and differences in spiritual experience, there is a very coherent theology of Snape shared between the wives. To examine this manifestation of religious fandom, I will first discuss the canon scepticism and anti-Rowling sentiment that helps to contextualise the wider belief...2014 March 3, Zoe Alderton, “‘Snapewives’ and ‘Snapeism’: A Fiction-Based Religion within the Harry Potter Fandom”, in Religions, volume 5, number 1, MDPI, →DOI, archived from the original on 20 Dec...
- Synonyms:
- division, separation, split
- A movement or organization that splits off from a larger body.
- He founded a schism that eventually rivaled the original organization in size.
- A formal division or split within a religious body.
- The schism between Sunnis and Shias happened quite early in Islamic history.
- The ordinations could prove to be the first significant crisis for Pope Leo because they provoke a schism – an intentional rupture of the church’s unity.2026 July 1, Angela Giuffrida, “Fears of Catholic schism as defiant sect ordains ultra-conservative bishops”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
- A split within Christianity whereby a group is no longer in communion with the Church or its ecclesiastical authorities, but shares essentially the same beliefs; in other words, a political split without the introduction of heresy.
Verb
schism (third-person singular simple present schisms, present participle schisming, simple past and past participle schismed)
- To split, divide (a group or organization).
- “This is going to schism Maga terribly online,” Kirk said. “You're going to see—I don't want to say a Maga civil war, but it's going to be a Maga online food fight that is going to be very hard to navigate.”2025 June 14, Guy Chazan, quoting Charlie Kirk, “Trump’s anti-war pledge tested amid Maga base fear of fresh conflict”, in FT Weekend, London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 4
schism meaning in Hindi, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
schism in Hindi
- split, division, separation, discord
- दरार darār
schism in Urdu
- schism
- نفاق nafāq
- schism, division of a group
- دراڑ darār
schism in Bengali
- দলাদলি, বিভেদ, অনৈক্য
schism in Malayalam
- rift, division, split
- മതഭിന്നത, ഭിന്നത, മതഭേദം, ധർമ്മഭേദം, മതപരമായ ഭിന്നിപ്പ്, ചേരിതിരിവ്
More languagesFewer languages
- schism in Kannada
- ಒಡಕು, ಬಿರುಕು, ವೈಮನಸ್ಯ, ವಿರೋಧ
- schism in Tagalog
- sisma
- schism in Arabic
- اِنْقِسَام inqisām, اِنْفِصَال infiṣāl, اِنْشِقَاق inšiqāq
- schism in Vietnamese
- xích mích, mâu thuẫn
Examples of schism in a sentence
- Despite personal schisms and differences in spiritual experience, there is a very coherent theology of Snape shared between the wives.2014 March 3, Zoe Alderton, “‘Snapewives’ and ‘Snapeism’: A Fiction-Based Religion within the Harry Potter Fandom”, in Religions, volume 5...
- But Harry, in his civilian suit, was also a reminder of the schism between the traditional and the modern in the royal family that can’t be drowned out by pageantry.2023 May 6, James Poniewozik, “Charles III Was Crowned King. But Can He Ever Be the Star?”, in The New York Times:
Synonyms of schism
Antonyms
Forms of schism
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | schisms |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | schisms |
| present participle | schisming |
| past participle | schismed |
| past | schismed |
Origin of schism
From Middle English scisme, from Old French cisme or scisme, from Ancient Greek σχίσμα (skhísma, “division”), from σχίζω (skhízō, “I split”). Doublet of schisma. Compare chasm. This word was historically pronounced /ˈsɪzəm/ (and still is among the clergy); the pronunciations /ˈʃɪzəm/, /ˈskɪzəm/ are due to the spelling (the latter may have been reinforced by learned influence); compare schedule.
Words formed from schism
Phrases with schism
Words that rhyme with schism
- prism
- anglicism
- hypocorism
- abysm
- chrisom
- epiphenomenalism
- Frenchism
- Indianism
- ism
- jism
- 'tism
- ABDLism
10 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about schism
- What does schism mean?
- Schism means a split or separation within a group or organization, typically caused by discord.
- What is schism in Hindi?
- Schism in Hindi is दरार (darār). See Schism meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use schism in a sentence?
- Despite personal schisms and differences in spiritual experience, there is a very coherent theology of Snape shared between the wives.
- What part of speech is schism?
- Schism can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce schism?
- Schism is pronounced /ˈskɪzəm/.
- What is the plural of schism?
- The plural of schism is schisms.
Words near schism in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: schism (page history and authors); دراڑ (Urdu) (page history and authors); schism (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); schism (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); schism (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-schism.ogg.
Cite this entry: “schism.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/schism. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.