n.
- a religious group or faction regarded as heretical or as deviating from orthodox tradition.
▸often derogatory a group that has separated from an established Church; a nonconformist Church.
- a group with extreme or dangerous philosophical or political ideas.
Etymology
ME: from OFr. secte or L. secta, lit. ‘following’, hence ‘faction, party’, from the stem of sequi ‘follow’.