(n.) Division or separation; specifically (Eccl.), permanent division or separation in the Christian church; breach of unity among people of the same religious faith; the offense of seeking to produce division in a church without justifiable cause.
Thesaurus Entries
affiliation, alienation, apostasy, betrayal, body, bolt, branch, breach, breach of friendship, break, breakaway, chasm, church, cleavage, cleft, communion, community, defection, denomination, dereliction, deserter, desertion, disaffection, disfavor, disruption, dissent, dissidence, disunion, disunity, divergence, dividedness, division, estrangement, faction, falling-out, fellowship, fissure, fracture, group, heterodoxy, misbelief, nonconformism, nonconformity, offshoot, open rupture, order, organization, party, persuasion, ratting, recall of ambassadors, religious order, rent, rift, rupture, school, secession, sect, sectarism, segment, separation, society, split, unorthodoxy, variety, version, walkout
