sect

Noun
  1. is a type of: faith, organized religion, religion - an institution to express belief in a divine power
    subtypes:
    • sisterhood - a religious society of women who live together as sisters (especially an order of nuns)
    • albigenses, cathari, cathars - a Christian religious sect in southern France in the 12th and 13th centuries; believers in Albigensianism
    • high anglican church, high church - a group in the Anglican Church that emphasizes the Catholic tradition (especially in sacraments and rituals and obedience to church authority)
    • abecedarian - a 16th century sect of Anabaptists centered in Germany who had an absolute disdain for human knowledge
    • amish sect - an orthodox Anabaptist sect separated from the Mennonites in late 17th century; settled chiefly in southeastern Pennsylvania
    • karaites - a Jewish sect that recognizes only the Hebrew Scriptures as the source of divinely inspired legislation and denies the authority of the postbiblical tradition of the Talmud; the sect arose in Iraq in the eighth century
    • shia, shiah, shiah islam - one of the two main branches of orthodox Islam; mainly in Iran
    • sunni, sunni islam - one of the two main branches of orthodox Islam
    • shivaism, sivaism - a Hindu sect worshiping Shiva
    • saktism, shaktism - a Hindu sect worshiping Shakti
    • vaishnavism, vaisnavism - Hindu sect worshiping of Vishnu
    • haredi - any of several sects of Orthodox Judaism that reject modern secular culture and many of whom do not recognize the spiritual authority of the modern state of Israel
    • hare krishna, international society for krishna consciousness, iskcon - a religious sect founded in the United States in 1966; based on Vedic scriptures; groups engage in joyful chanting of `Hare Krishna' and other mantras based on the name of the Hindu god Krishna; devotees usually wear saffron robes and practice vegetarianism and celibacy
    • jainism - sect founded in the 6th century BC as a revolt against Hinduism
    • taoism - a Chinese sect claiming to follow the teaching of Lao-tzu but incorporating pantheism and sorcery in addition to Taoism
    • kokka, kokka shinto - the branch of Shinto recognized as the official state religion of Japan
    • shua, shuha shinto - any branch of Shinto other than Kokka
    • brethren - (plural) the lay members of a male religious order
    • monastic order, order - a group of person living under a religious rule
    • quakers, religious society of friends, society of friends - a Christian sect founded by George Fox about 1660; commonly called Quakers
    • shakers, united society of believers in christ's second appearing - a celibate and communistic Christian sect in the United States
    • vaudois, waldenses - a Christian sect of dissenters that originated in southern France in the late 12th century adopted Calvinist doctrines in the 16th century
    • zurvanism - a Zoroastrian sect that claims Zurvan was the ultimate source of the universe
    has: convent - a community of people in a religious order (especially nuns) living together
    same as: religious order, religious sect
  2. is a type of: camp, clique, coterie, ingroup, inner circle, pack - an exclusive circle of people with a common purpose
    subtypes:
    • splinter group - a faction or sect that has broken away from its parent organization
    • left, left wing - those who support varying degrees of social or political or economic change designed to promote the public welfare
    • right, right wing - those who support political or social or economic conservatism; those who believe that things are better left unchanged
    • old guard - a faction that is unwilling to accept new ideas
    • pro-choice faction - those who argue that the decision to have an induced abortion should be made by the mother
    • pro-life faction - those who argue that induced abortion is killing and should be prohibited
    same as: faction

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