sect

n. faction, schism, party; religious denomination; dissenting religious group that opposes a larger group

In the sociology of religion a sect is generally a small religious or political group that has broken off from a larger group, for example from a large, well-established religious group, like a denomination, usually due to a dispute about doctrinal matters. In its historical usage in Christendom the term has a pejorative connotation and refers to a movement committed to heretical beliefs and that often deviated from orthodox practices.A sect as used in an Indian context refers to an organized tradition.
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Noun
1. a subdivision of a larger religious group
(synonym) religious sect, religious order
(hypernym) religion, faith
(hyponym) sisterhood
(part-meronym) convent
2. a dissenting clique
(synonym) faction
(hypernym) clique, coterie, ingroup, inner circle, pack, camp
(hyponym) splinter group

(n.)
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.
  

(n.)
A cutting; a scion.
  

(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).