Sect

noun
1.
a body of persons adhering to a particular religious faith; a religious denomination.
2.
a group regarded as heretical or as deviating from a generally accepted religious tradition.
3.
(in the sociology of religion) a Christian denomination characterized by insistence on strict qualifications for membership, as distinguished from the more inclusive groups called churches.
4.
any group, party, or faction united by a specific doctrine or under a doctrinal leader.
1.
section.
noun
1.
a subdivision of a larger religious group (esp the Christian Church as a whole) the members of which have to some extent diverged from the rest by developing deviating beliefs, practices, etc
2.
(often derogatory)

a schismatic religious body characterized by an attitude of exclusivity in contrast to the more inclusive religious groups called denominations or Churches
a religious group regarded as extreme or heretical

3.
a group of people with a common interest, doctrine, etc; faction

sect definition

A religious group, especially one that has separated from a larger group. Sect is often a term of disapproval.
sect.
1.
section
2.
sectional

(Gr. hairesis, usually rendered “heresy”, Acts 24:14; 1 Chr. 11:19; Gal. 5:20, etc.), meaning properly “a choice,” then “a chosen manner of life,” and then “a religious party,” as the “sect” of the Sadducees (Acts 5:17), of the Pharisees (15:5), the Nazarenes, i.e., Christians (24:5). It afterwards came to be used in a bad sense, of those holding pernicious error, divergent forms of belief (2 Pet. 2:1; Gal. 5:20).