faction

1 of 2

noun

fac·​tion ˈfak-shən 

1

: a party or group (as within a government) that is often contentious or self-seeking : clique

The committee soon split into factions.

2

: party spirit especially when marked by dissension

Faction, or the irreconcilable conflict of parties …

—Ernest Barker

factional

ˈfak-sh(ə-)nəl 

adjective

factionalism

ˈfak-sh(ə-)nə-ˌli-zəm 

noun

factionally

ˈfak-sh(ə-)nəl-ē 

adverb

-faction

2 of 2

noun combining form

: making : -fication

petrifaction

Synonyms of faction

Noun

• party
• side
• wing
• sect
• coalition
• team
• bloc

Examples of faction in a Sentence

Noun

The committee soon split into factions.

several factions within the environmental movement have joined forces to save this wilderness area

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

This is the friction that Tariq felt was a nonnegotiable for the film, factions of an immigrant community torn between assimilating into American culture and proudly celebrating its differences as loudly as possible. — Ct Jones, Rolling Stone, 30 Sep. 2026

Anthropic was founded in 2021 by a breakaway faction of researchers from OpenAI who were concerned about safe AI development. — Los Angeles Times, 30 Sep. 2026

Meanwhile, the prime minister is having to claw back progressives who defected to the Green Party as left-wing factions abandoned Starmer’s Labour over the party’s stance on issues like net zero and the Gaza conflict. — Billy Stockwell, CNN Money, 29 Sep. 2026

People belonging to the faction are emphatically optimistic about AI and its future benefits to society. — Katie McQue, NPR, 26 Sep. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Noun

borrowed from Middle French & Latin; Middle French faccion, borrowed from Latin factiōn-, factiō "act of making, social set, band, group, self-seeking political group," from facere "to make, bring about, place, classify" + -tiōn-, -tiō, suffix of verbal action — more at fact

Note: A doublet of faction is fashion entry 1, from the Gallo-Romance outcome of Latin factiō, which maintains only the meaning "act of making," sparsely attested outside of early Latin except in legal use.

Noun combining form

borrowed from Latin -factiōn-, -factiō (as in satisfactiōn-, satisfactiō satisfaction)

First Known Use

Noun

1509, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for faction

• action
• faction
• fraction
• traction
• abstraction
• attraction
• compaction
• contraction
• detraction
• diffraction
• benefaction
• counteraction

Kids Definition

faction

noun

fac·​tion ˈfak-shən 

: a group acting together within a larger body (as a government) : clique

factional

-shnəl 

-shən-ᵊl

adjective

factionalism

-ˌiz-əm 

noun