# sect

Pronunciation: say "SEKT" /sɛkt/

## Noun

1. A religious group that has broken away from a larger faith or denomination.
   - Simple: A smaller group that breaks away from a bigger religion.
   - _The breakaway sect rejected the bishops and chose its own elders._
   - _Persecution scattered the early sects across the countryside._
2. A group united by devotion to a particular leader or guiding ideal.
   - Simple: A group of people who follow one leader or a strong belief.
   - _The political sect organized around its founder's writings._
   - _Rival sects within the movement fought over the founder's legacy._
3. In ancient astrology, the polarity that classified each heavenly body as either diurnal (a daytime body) or nocturnal (a nighttime body).
   - Simple: In old astrology, a way of sorting stars and planets into daytime ones and nighttime ones.
   - _Astrologers determined a planet's sect from whether the chart was cast in daylight or after dark._
   - _Under the rules of sect, the Sun and the Moon governed opposite halves of the day._

## Noun

4. A cutting taken from a plant; a scion used for grafting or propagation. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A small piece cut from a plant so a new one can be grown.

## Origin

From Middle English secte, from Old French secte (a philosophical or religious sect), from Late Latin secta (a school, party, faction, or heretical doctrine). It possibly derives from Latin sequi ('to follow'), though it may also be linked to sectus ('cut off, divided'), the past participle of secō.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/sect (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).