sectarian
adjective
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Definition of sectarian
(Entry 1 of 2)
sectarian
nounDefinition of sectarian (Entry 2 of 2)
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Other Words from sectarian
Adjective
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noun
Synonyms & Antonyms for sectarian
Synonyms: Adjective
illiberal, insular, Lilliputian, little, narrow, narrow-minded, parochial, petty, picayune, provincial, small, small-minded
Synonyms: Noun
bigot, dogmatist, dogmatizer, partisan (also partizan)
Antonyms: Adjective
broad-minded, catholic, cosmopolitan, liberal, open, open-minded, receptive, tolerant
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Examples of sectarian in a Sentence
Adjective
The country was split along sectarian lines. there are people on both the left and the right who have staked out unyielding sectarian positions in this debateNoun
charged that the work of Congress has been stymied by sectarians who are indifferent to reason and intolerant of compromise
Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective
The second leg of the first-round meeting with the Gibraltarians ended in a comfortable 6-0 win to Rangers, but the occasion was marred by sectarian chanting from a section of the club's supporters. — SI.com, "Rangers Hit With Partial Stadium Closure After Sectarian Chants in Europa League Clash," 23 Aug. 2019 After decades of bloody sectarian conflict, a cornerstone of the 1998 Good Friday peace accord is an open border between Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland, which is not. — Laura King, Los Angeles Times, "First job for new leader of the United Kingdom: Keeping the kingdom united," 2 Aug. 2019 The pilgrimage this year takes place amid a backdrop of political and sectarian tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran and conflicts still flare in Yemen, Syria and Libya. — Washington Post, "Over 2 million Muslims in Mecca for start of hajj pilgrimage," 10 Aug. 2019 As the struggle intensified, the hereditary regime in Damascus’s growing catalogue of atrocities and massacres helped usher the rebellion into an ethnic and sectarian civil war. — Brian Stewart, National Review, "For Sama: A Chronicle of the Syrian Tragedy," 10 Aug. 2019 Each page of the Daily Star bore a single phrase referring to one of Lebanon's problems, including government deadlock and increasing sectarian rhetoric. — Washington Post, "World Digest: Aug. 8, 2019," 8 Aug. 2019 Subsequent to the vote the age-old sectarian divide began to once more rear its ugly head. — K. V. Turley, National Review, "Border Posts and Border Ghosts," 1 July 2019 Paramilitary gangs on both sides of the sectarian divide are active in organised crime. — The Economist, "Twenty years after a peace deal the mood is sour in Northern Ireland," 28 Mar. 2018 Money flowed for radical Buddhist groups that cheered on sectarian rioting in which Muslims died. — Hannah Beech, New York Times, "‘Our Duty to Fight’: The Rise of Militant Buddhism," 8 July 2019Recent Examples on the Web: Noun
Quite the contrary, the image of the cross makes the war memorial sectarian. — The Washington Post, The Mercury News, "SCOTUS: Cross honoring military can remain on public land," 20 June 2019 Quite the contrary, the image of the cross makes the war memorial sectarian. — Robert Barnes, Anchorage Daily News, "Supreme Court rules that giant cross honoring military dead can remain on public land," 20 June 2019 Lebanon’s unique sectarian make up and place in the region make its politics about local issues like jobs, infrastructure, and garbage collection as well as about regional rivalries and alliances. — Ben Hubbard, BostonGlobe.com, "Elections in Lebanon boost Hezbollah’s clout," 7 May 2018 And so, there was the odd spectacle of the Irish Times religion reporter, Patsy McGarry, ringing in the 2016 with an editorial suggesting that Rising leaders Patrick Pearse and James Connolly were poisonous Catholic sectarians. — Michael Brendan Dougherty, National Review, "The Next Lost Cause," 1 Nov. 2017 As a result, Sunni sectarians across the region concluded that Obama’s United States was on the side of the Shia. — Graeme Wood, The Atlantic, "Trump Complies Perfectly With the Saudi Line," 21 May 2017These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'sectarian.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for sectarian
sectarian
adjective
English Language Learners Definition of sectarian
See the full definition for sectarian in the English Language Learners Dictionary
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