sectish

S1E1C3T1I1S1H4
/ˈsɛktɪʃ//ˈsɛktəʃ/

adjective

Sectarian; adherent to a sect, often to the degree of being dogmatic, insular and non-ecumenical.

Scrabble 12

Meanings

sectish1

adjectivesectish (comparative more sectish, superlative most sectish)

comparative more sectish · superlative most sectish

  1. especiallyrareSectarian; adherent to a sect, often to the degree of being dogmatic, insular and non-ecumenical.

    One reason there are sects is that it is easy to be sectish. It is easier to be than not to be. This applies to everybody. To believe in one true church does not of itself insure one against a party spirit.

    1920, D.S. Warner, J.C. Fisher, The Gospel Trumpet, volume 40, page 5
    4 more examples

    The only sect among Christians that is spoken of in terms— the Nicolaitan — is severely condemned. There are indications of sectish belief, against which John is supposed to labor in the first chapter of his Gospel, and Paul withstood in the Judaizing tendencies, even in a brother Apostle.

    1880, David S. Warner, Bible proofs of the second work of grace […] , page 419

    If Menno, D. Philip and the many servants and congregations had pure teachings in their times, you, who carry the name Old Mennonites, certainly have a sectish teaching which devours like gnawing cancer, and all true children of God are[…]

    1973, Clarence Hiebert, The Holdeman people: the Church of God in Christ, Mennonite, 1859-1969, William Carey Library, page 184

    The 'sectish' Marxism expounded by Hyndman and the SDF, and later by Morris and the Socialist League, was too narrow and dogmatic to allow the development of a workable strategy of engagement with the working class.

    1997, Fintan Lane, The Origins of Modern Irish Socialism, 1881-1896, Cork University Press, →ISBN, page 226

    In previous centuries, both the sectish and churchish styles of evangelicalism had been evident, but in different movements (like the Salvation Army versus evangelical Anglicans) or in the same movement at different times (like Methodism in the eighteenth century versus Methodism in the late nineteenth).

    1998, John Gordon Stackhouse, Canadian Evangelicalism in the Twentieth Century: An Introduction to Its Character, Regent College Publishing, →ISBN, page 197

Sectish2

proper noun

Origin

From sect + -ish; perhaps after obsolete German sektisch, sektierisch or German sektiererisch.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

sectish. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sectish

MLA

“sectish.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sectish. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sectish,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sectish.

Source: sectish on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.