as in parochial
not broad or open in views or opinions
there are people on both the left and the right who have staked out unyielding sectarian positions in this debate
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in partisan
one who stubbornly or intolerantly adheres to his or her own opinions and prejudices
charged that the work of Congress has been stymied by sectarians who are indifferent to reason and intolerant of compromise
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in bigotry
stubborn or intolerant adherence to one's opinions or prejudices
an ideological sectarianism that prevented the political party from ever being anything more than a fringe group
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Recent Examples of sectarian
Hamidreza Azizi, Foreign Affairs, 23 Dec. 2024
Now the scramble is on to define the future of Syria, quickly, to prevent ethnic, political, and sectarian rivalries from triggering a war even more divisive than the conflict that has riven the nation for thirteen years.
—Robin Wright, The New Yorker, 15 Dec. 2024
Robert Barnes, Anchorage Daily News, 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, 7 May 2018
See all Example Sentences for sectarian 
Adjective
Assad’s fall has also highlighted ideological and sectarian divisions among Iran’s allies that may further fracture the axis’s cohesion.
—Hamidreza Azizi, Foreign Affairs, 23 Dec. 2024
Now the scramble is on to define the future of Syria, quickly, to prevent ethnic, political, and sectarian rivalries from triggering a war even more divisive than the conflict that has riven the nation for thirteen years.
—Robin Wright, The New Yorker, 15 Dec. 2024
Noun
Quite the contrary, the image of the cross makes the war memorial sectarian.
—Robert Barnes, Anchorage Daily News, 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, 7 May 2018
See all Example Sentences for sectarian
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sectarian
Adjective
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But parochial political feuds and byzantine zoning codes have hampered LA’s efforts to get more new housing off the ground.Carly Stern, Vox, 6 Dec. 2024
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Given the court's significance in international law, this case could have more of an impact than COP on countries' behavior and corporate policies — and on future legal action, compared to past more parochial climate cases.Andrew Freedman, Axios, 3 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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But the smoke is still rising, and petty partisanship is a distraction and disservice at the moment, given all that’s been lost, and all the hard work of moving forward.Steve Lopez, Los Angeles Times, 10 Jan. 2025
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In an era of steadily declining trust in media, the dry formalities of a legal template provide not only an imprimatur of institutional credibility, but also the freedom to go into extreme amounts of detail without seeming petty, tedious or self-indulgent.Eleanor Hawkins, Axios, 9 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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Billionaire and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos created Blue Origin back in 2000, but has to date only launched the smaller suborbital New Shepard rockets from its facilities in West Texas.RICHARD TRIBOU ORLANDO SENTINEL (TNS), arkansasonline.com, 13 Jan. 2025
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Those smaller fires, like the Woodley and Lidia fires, have been contained as of Monday, and 89% of the moderately sized Hurst Fire is also under control, Cal Fire said.Sarah Lynch Baldwin, CBS News, 13 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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Republicans are weighing their big ambitions, limited time and narrow House and Senate majorities.Alexis Simendinger, The Hill, 13 Jan. 2025
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The narrow edge is expected to get even slimmer when two Republican members of congress join Trump’s cabinet.Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News, 13 Jan. 2025
Thesaurus Entries Near sectarian
Cite this Entry
“Sectarian.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sectarian. Accessed 22 Jan. 2025.
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