Denomination vs. Sect — What's the Difference?

A large group of religious congregations united under a common faith and name, usually organized under a single administrative and legal hierarchy.

A sect is a subgroup of a religious, political, or philosophical belief system, usually an offshoot of a larger group. Although the term was originally a classification for religious separated groups, it can now refer to any organization that breaks away from a larger one to follow a different set of rules and principles.

One of a series of kinds, values, or sizes, as in a system of currency or weights

A group of people forming a distinct unit within a larger group by virtue of certain refinements or distinctions of belief or practice.

A name or designation, especially for a class or group.

A religious body, especially one that has separated from a larger denomination.

(uncountable) The act of naming or designating.

A faction united by common interests or beliefs.

(countable) That by which anything is denominated or styled; an epithet; a name, designation, or title; especially, a general name indicating a class of like individuals.

An offshoot of a larger religion or denomination, usually and especially one with unorthodox or extreme political and/or religious beliefs.

A class, or society of individuals, called by the same name; a subdivision of a religion.

A group following a specific ideal or a leader.

(countable) A unit in a series of units of weight, money, etc.

(obsolete) A cutting; a scion.

The act of naming or designating.

A cutting; a scion.

That by which anything is denominated or styled; an epithet; a name, designation, or title; especially, a general name indicating a class of like individuals; a category; as, the denomination of units, or of thousands, or of fourths, or of shillings, or of tons.

Those following a particular leader or authority, or attached to a certain opinion; a company or set having a common belief or allegiance distinct from others; in religion, the believers in a particular creed, or upholders of a particular practice; especially, in modern times, a party dissenting from an established church; a denomination; in philosophy, the disciples of a particular master; a school; in society and the state, an order, rank, class, or party.

A class, or society of individuals, called by the same name; a sect; as, a denomination of Christians.

A subdivision of a larger religious group

A group of religious congregations having its own organization and a distinctive faith

A dissenting clique

A class of one kind of unit in a system of numbers or measures or weights or money;

Identifying word or words by which someone or something is called and classified or distinguished from others