sect
/sɛkt/
sect noun: an offshoot of a larger religion or denomination.
Noun (1)
sect (plural sects)
- An offshoot of a larger religion or denomination.
- a religious sect
- A group following a specific ideal or a leader.
- Zen Center welcomes visitors, guests, and prospective students, but it does not engage in systematic institutional or network recruiting of new members, unlike the Christian sect and Erhard Seminars Training.1984, Steven M. Tipton, Getting Saved from the Sixties: Moral Meaning in Conversion and Cultural Change, University of California Press, →ISBN, page 104
- Every person who is not a fellow member, and every social, religious and political institution that lies outside the sect's domain, is portrayed as a representative of Satan's world. In our research, we found that Moonies and members of many Christian sects with similar religious and political...1995, Flo Conway, Jim Siegelman, Snapping: America's Epidemic of Sudden Personality Change, Stillpoint Press, Inc., →ISBN, page 161
- A cutting; a scion.
Noun (2)
sect (uncountable)
- An ancient astrological concept, a form of polarity by which heavenly bodies were designated as either diurnal or nocturnal.
sect meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
sect in Hindi
- religious movement
- पंथ panth, मज़हब mazhab, संप्रदाय sampradāy, निकाय nikāy, फ़िरक़ा firqā, फिरका phirkā
sect in Tamil
- உட்குழு
sect in Marathi
- sect, order, denomination, cult
- पंथ pantha
sect in Urdu
- religious movement
- مَذْہَبْ mazhab, فِرْقَہ firqa
More languagesFewer languages
- sect in Bengali
- ফেরকা pherka, সম্প্রদায় śomprodaẏ
- sect in Malayalam
- അവാന്തരവിഭാഗം, മതശാഖ, മതഭേദം, ഛേദം
- sect in Kannada
- ವರ್ಗ, ಗುಂಪು, ಪಂಗಡ, ಪಂಥ
- sect in Punjabi
- ਸ਼ਾਖਾ śākhā, ਪੰਥ panth
- sect in Gujarati
- પંથ panth
- sect in Sanskrit
- निकाय nikāya, सम्प्रदाय sampradāya
- sect in Pashto
- فرقه ferqá
- sect in Tagalog
- sekta
- sect in Arabic
- فِرْقَة firqa, مَذْهَب maḏhab, طائِفَة ṭāʔifa, نِحْلَة niḥla
- sect in Malay
- sekta, taifah
- sect in Indonesian
- sekte, mazhab
- sect in Thai
- นิกาย ní-gaai
- sect in Vietnamese
- giáo phái
- sect in Myanmar
- ဂိုဏ်း guin:, နိကာယ ni.kaya.
Examples of sect in a sentence
- Every person who is not a fellow member, and every social, religious and political institution that lies outside the sect's domain, is portrayed as a representative of Satan's world.1995, Flo Conway, Jim Siegelman, Snapping: America's Epidemic of Sudden Personality Change, Stillpoint Press, Inc., →ISBN, page 161:
- Peoples Temple and the Branch Davidians both approximated the 'apocalyptic sect' as an ideal type.1995, Stuart A. Wright, Armageddon in Waco: Critical Perspectives on the Branch Davidian Conflict, University Of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page...
- There are scores of modern religious cults and sects that have been influenced by Hinduism to varying degrees.1996, John Ankerberg, John Weldon, Encyclopedia of New Age Beliefs, Harvest House Publishers, →ISBN, page 216:
- Branch Davidians are a modern religious sect that claims to be an offshoot of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church.1999, R. C. S. Trahair, Utopias and Utopians: An Historical Dictionary, Greenwood, →ISBN, page 47:
Forms of sect
| plural | sects |
|---|
Origin of sect
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.
Words formed from sect
Phrases with sect
Words that rhyme with sect
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- respect
- deflect
- dissect
- expect
- redirect
- suspect
- correct
- defect
- disconnect
- infect
- inflect
- neglect
- resurrect
- unchecked
- abject
- bisect
- deject
- deselect
- genuflect
- incorrect
- inspect
- interject
- introspect
- object
- wrecked
- conject
- convect
- decked
- detect
- elect
- intersect
- necked
- perfect
- prospect
- protect
- recollect
- reconnect
- select
- subject
- trisect
- bandreject
- cathect
- cobra effect
- counterobject
- despect
- disinfect
- disject
- disrespect
Questions about sect
- What does sect mean?
- Sect means an offshoot of a larger religion or denomination.
- What is sect in Hindi?
- Sect in Hindi is पंथ (panth), मज़हब (mazhab), संप्रदाय (sampradāy). See Sect meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use sect in a sentence?
- Every person who is not a fellow member, and every social, religious and political institution that lies outside the sect's domain, is portrayed as a representative of Satan's world.
- What part of speech is sect?
- Sect is a noun.
- How do you pronounce sect?
- Sect is pronounced /sɛkt/.
- What is the plural of sect?
- The plural of sect is sects.
Words near sect in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: sect (page history and authors); sect (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); पंथ (Marathi) (page history and authors); sect (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); sect (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ਪੰਥ (Punjabi) (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-sect.ogg.
Cite this entry: “sect.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sect. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.