a group of people with somewhat different religious beliefs (typically regarded as heretical) from those of a larger group to which they belong.
often derogatory 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:the radical sect Friends of the Earth campaigned against aerosols containing CFC gases
