1. a group of people with somewhat different religious beliefs (typically regarded as heretical) from those of a larger group to which they belong.
▪ a group that has separated from an established Church; a nonconformist Church: "two of the older sects—the Congregationalists and the Baptists—were able to increase their membership dramatically"
▪ a philosophical or political group, especially one regarded as extreme or dangerous:"a sect of anarchists"
Word OriginMiddle English: from Old French secte or Latin secta, literally ‘following’, hence ‘faction, party’, from the stem of sequi ‘follow’.
