Sectarian

How to spell sectarian

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce sectarian

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does sectarian mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to or arising from differences and rivalries between religious, political, or other groups.
2. nounA member of a sect, or a person who is narrowly devoted to a particular faction or doctrine.

Sectarian in a sentence

• adjective

  Decades of sectarian violence left the city deeply divided.

• noun

  He was dismissed as a sectarian who refused to work with anyone outside his own group.

• adjective

  The peace deal aimed to end sectarian tensions in the region.

• noun

  The council had no place for a rigid sectarian unwilling to compromise.

Where does sectarian come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word grows out of the Latin noun secta, which meant a faction, a school of thought, or a path that people chose to follow. Secta is closely tied to the verb sequi, meaning 'to follow', so a sect was originally simply a group of people who followed a particular leader or doctrine. English took 'sect' in the medieval period to describe religious groups that had broken away from a larger body, and by the seventeenth century the adjective 'sectarian' was coined by adding the suffix -arian, used to label adherents of a cause, as in 'librarian' or 'humanitarian'. From its religious roots the word broadened to cover any narrow, partisan loyalty, especially the bitter divisions between rival groups. The spelling trap is the unstressed middle vowel and the -arian ending: it is 'sectarian', echoing 'librarian', not 'sectarion' or 'secterian'.

How the word is built

• sect (a faction or party, from Latin secta)
• -arian (adjective/noun suffix meaning 'a believer in or member of')