variants
also schismatical
as in sectarian
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Dissimilar Words
as in separatist
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Dissimilar Words
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Recent Examples of schismatic
Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 9 Apr. 2025
The potential members of a schismatic Catholic sect are located in areas of the world such as the United States, where the church has significant financial resources and assets, plus a wide array of independent Catholic institutions that operate largely outside the hierarchy of the church.
—Massimo Faggioli, Foreign Affairs, 11 Oct. 2018
But Barzani’s setback only birthed a schismatic new cadre of Kurdish leaders.
—Behnam Ben Taleblu, Foreign Affairs, 8 Nov. 2017
The Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which didn't recognize the authority of the Russian church and had been regarded as schismatic, was granted full recognition in 2019 by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Orthodoxy's top authority.
—Compiled Bydemocrat-Gazette Stafffrom Wire Reports, arkansasonline.com, 26 Dec. 2023
The necessarily schismatic nature of the civil-rights movement, encompassing godless socialists as well as evangelical Christians, was exactly the right place for someone with a Friends background to flourish.
—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 6 Nov. 2023
Novatian: one of an early Christian schismatic sect existing from A.D. 251 to the 6th or 7th century that denied that the church should restore lapsed Christians to membership and advocated a rigidly purist conception of church membership.
—Dallas News, 1 June 2022
The fracture widens and hardens—fanatic, schismatic, idiotic.
—Jill Lepore, The New Yorker, 7 Nov. 2022
The calls-and-responses between strings and winds in the middle of the first movement dramatically seesawed tempos, whetting Tchaikovsky’s schismatic emotional contrasts to sharp points.
—Hannah Edgar, Chicago Tribune, 28 June 2022
Ian Campbell, Foreign Affairs, 22 Feb. 2022
This situation has arisen because the head of state, President Poroshenko, turned to the patriarch in Constantinople to give autocephaly to the schismatics.
—Fred Weir, The Christian Science Monitor, 17 Apr. 2019
How much backing the schismatics might have among AK voters is unclear.
—The Economist, 6 June 2019
In 1997 the patriarch of the Russian church excommunicated him and declared his followers schismatics.
—Michael Khodarkovsky, WSJ, 30 Sep. 2018
Adjective
Such was the case this past weekend, when tens of millions of fans keyed in on the denouement of the college basketball season at the expense of lesser spectacles such as spring football and one notoriously schismatic pro golf startup.
—Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 9 Apr. 2025
The potential members of a schismatic Catholic sect are located in areas of the world such as the United States, where the church has significant financial resources and assets, plus a wide array of independent Catholic institutions that operate largely outside the hierarchy of the church.
—Massimo Faggioli, Foreign Affairs, 11 Oct. 2018
But Barzani’s setback only birthed a schismatic new cadre of Kurdish leaders.
—Behnam Ben Taleblu, Foreign Affairs, 8 Nov. 2017
The Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which didn't recognize the authority of the Russian church and had been regarded as schismatic, was granted full recognition in 2019 by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Orthodoxy's top authority.
—Compiled Bydemocrat-Gazette Stafffrom Wire Reports, arkansasonline.com, 26 Dec. 2023
The necessarily schismatic nature of the civil-rights movement, encompassing godless socialists as well as evangelical Christians, was exactly the right place for someone with a Friends background to flourish.
—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 6 Nov. 2023
Novatian: one of an early Christian schismatic sect existing from A.D. 251 to the 6th or 7th century that denied that the church should restore lapsed Christians to membership and advocated a rigidly purist conception of church membership.
—Dallas News, 1 June 2022
The fracture widens and hardens—fanatic, schismatic, idiotic.
—Jill Lepore, The New Yorker, 7 Nov. 2022
The calls-and-responses between strings and winds in the middle of the first movement dramatically seesawed tempos, whetting Tchaikovsky’s schismatic emotional contrasts to sharp points.
—Hannah Edgar, Chicago Tribune, 28 June 2022
Noun
In 1935, Pope Pius XI openly supported the invasion of Ethiopia as a crusade against a country of heretics, schismatics, pagans, and infidels.
—Ian Campbell, Foreign Affairs, 22 Feb. 2022
This situation has arisen because the head of state, President Poroshenko, turned to the patriarch in Constantinople to give autocephaly to the schismatics.
—Fred Weir, The Christian Science Monitor, 17 Apr. 2019
How much backing the schismatics might have among AK voters is unclear.
—The Economist, 6 June 2019
In 1997 the patriarch of the Russian church excommunicated him and declared his followers schismatics.
—Michael Khodarkovsky, WSJ, 30 Sep. 2018
Recent Examples of Synonyms for schismatic
Adjective
-
Tensions between the two communities have exploded, leading to some of the worst sectarian violence Syria has seen since the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s dictatorship.—
Ben Smith,
semafor.com,
25 July 2025
-
The killings occurred on July 17 amid an outbreak of sectarian violence between Syrian Druze groups and Bedouin tribes in the Druze-majority Suwayda province.—
Sarah Dewberry,
CNN Money,
22 July 2025
Noun
-
China currently refuses to engage with President Lai, with Chinese officials branding him as a separatist and supporter of Taiwan's current status.—
Jan Camenzind Broomby,
NPR,
26 July 2025
-
The Nobel laureate is regarded as one of the world’s most influential religious leaders, with a following that extends well beyond Buddhism, but not by Beijing, which calls him a separatist and has sought to bring the faith under its control.—
Reuters,
NBC news,
6 July 2025
Noun
-
And, of course, my fantasy went right to some kind of renegade character along the lines of Saw Gerrera.—
Dalton Ross,
EW.com,
16 May 2025
-
The director Doris Wishman was a renegade: a woman who made lurid exploitation films at a time when American underground cinema was a man’s playground.—
Erik Piepenburg,
New York Times,
2 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Schismatic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/schismatic. Accessed 6 Aug. 2025.
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