Meanings
plural sectionaries
- historicalA member of a French antiroyalist political party that was one of the driving forces of the French Revolution.
Every indigent citizen was allowed forty sous a day, to enable him to be present at the sectionary meetings.
1856, M. Mignet, History of the French Revolution from 1789 to 1814, →ISBN2 more examples
The Sectionary must differ with him — he must refuse to go along with him, else he becomes a Ministerial man — he is no longer a Sectionary — he loses his separate existence — he is absorbed in the Treasury body.
1835, Sydney Smith, The Edinburgh Review Or Critical JournalThus the Revolutionary Tribunal followed, in its treatment of the commissaires of Marseilles and Aix, and their allies, the principles which marked its treatment of sectionary officeholders.
1973, William Scott, Terror and repression in revolutionary Marseilles, page 256 - historicalA member or supporter of the sectionary party.
You take a good deal for granted, my young Prusssssian ," rejoined the sectionary, pronouncing the word with a prodigality of s's which attracted the attention of half a score of idlers to the traveller.
1897, Alexandre Dumas, Sylvandire. The woman with the velvet necklace, page 952 more examples
The sectionaries replied by a very brisk fire of musketry; but Bonaparte, covering them with grape-shot, obliged them to fall back upon the steps of St. Roch; then, debouching in the Rue St. Honore', he directed upon the church itself a band of patriots who were fighting at his side with the greatest valour, and who had cruel injuries to revenge.
1838, Marie Joseph L. Adolphe Thiers, The history of the French revolution, translated. with notes by F. Shoberl, page 283The Sectionary must differ with him — he must refuse to go along with him, else he becomes a Ministerial man — he is no longer a Sectionary — he loses his separate existence — he is absorbed in the Treasury body.
1835, Sydney Smith, The Edinburgh Review Or Critical Journal
- historicalnot comparablePertaining to the sectionary party.
Any explanation for the triumph of the 'federalist' or sectionary movement at Toulon must, therefore, begin by examining the profound isolation of the incumbent Jacobin administration.
1991, Malcolm Crook, Toulon in War and Revolution, →ISBN, page 126
Origin
- Frenchsectionnaire
- Englishsectionary
From section + -ary, calque of French sectionnaire.
More words from French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
French sectionnaire, sectionnaire
- sectionnairea member or supporter of the sectionary party
- sectionnairepertaining to the sectionary party
Cite this entry
sectionary. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sectionary
“sectionary.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sectionary. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sectionary,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sectionary.
Source: sectionary on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.