sectarian

Etymology

It is formed from English sectary + -an,^[2][3][4][5] partly also from sect;^[4][5] the OED's revised entry takes it as formed from sectārius (“follower; member of a religious group”) with the English suffix.^[6][7] The Latin word, recorded in British sources from the 13th century, is from secta (“following; faction; school of thought”) with the suffix -ārius.^[6][7] That noun meant literally a following, from an old past participle of sequor (“to follow”),^[8][7] from Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- (“to follow”).^[7] Etymonline notes that its history seems confused with that of a past participle of secō (“to cut”);^[7] Ayto, by contrast, says it has nothing to do with cutting.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A member of a dissenting, separatist or heretical religious group, especially one dissenting from the national church: before 1576, in prayers by Lady Abergavenny;^[6] the adjective follows in 1577, in a heading in S. Batman's Golden Booke of the Leaden Goddes.^[6] The OED's 2023 revision thus places the word about seventy years before the older dictionaries, which date it to the 1640s or 1650s.^[6][7][2][3]

Semantic evolution

In the 17th century the word was applied especially by Presbyterians to the Independents and their party during the Commonwealth, a sense now only historical.^[7][5][2] From 1682 the adjective could describe any particular religious group, and later a political one;^[6] from 1770 it was also used of what arises from the divisions between such groups.^[6] The noun likewise widened to a follower of a teacher or school of thought (1712) and a member of any religious or political group (1818).^[6] The disapproving sense, a person who adheres rigidly or bigotedly to a group's doctrines, is recorded for the noun from 1823 and for the adjective from 1844;^[6] Etymonline dates the general sense "of or attached to sects" to 1796, whence "bigotedly attached to a sect".^[7] The older word for a member of a sect is sectary.^[7]

Timeline

• before 1576 – noun, a member of a dissenting or heretical religious group.^[6]
• 1577 – adjective, belonging to such a group.^[6]
• 1682 – belonging to a particular religious group.^[6]
• 1712 – noun, a follower of a particular teacher or school.^[6]
• 1770 – arising from divisions between religious groups.^[6]
• 1818 – noun, a member of a religious or political group.^[6]
• 1823 – noun, a rigid or bigoted adherent of a group.^[6]
• 1844 – of a person, rigidly attached to a group's doctrines.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Arising from or relating to the divisions between religious or political groups: sectarian riots in the city.^[9][2][6]
2. Belonging or relating to a sect or faction.^[9][2][6]
3. Narrow-minded, or bigoted in adhering to one sect, party or doctrine.^[9][2][6]
4. (historical) Of the Independents or another Protestant nonconformist sect in 17th-century England.^[2][5]

Noun

1. A member of a sect or faction.^[9][2][6]
2. A person who adheres narrowly or bigotedly to a sect or party.^[9][2][6]

Word family

• sectarianism
• sectarianly
• unsectarian

Related words

• sectarianize
• sect
• sectary
• sequence
• sue
• nonsectarian

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
9. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins