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 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
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
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 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
Ian Campbell, Foreign Affairs, 22 Feb. 2022
How much backing the schismatics might have among AK voters is unclear.
—The Economist, 6 June 2019
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
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 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
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
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 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
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
How much backing the schismatics might have among AK voters is unclear.
—The Economist, 6 June 2019
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
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
-
In this astonishing work, Sacco unearths intimate human stories at the root of sectarian violence.—
The New Yorker,
New Yorker,
9 Oct. 2025
-
As British prime minister, Blair helped usher through the 1998 Good Friday Agreement that did much to end decades of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland.—
Dana El Kurd,
The Conversation,
9 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Cameroon, with its longstanding Anglophone separatist insurgency and jihadists forcing thousands to flee their homes, is particularly at risk.—
semafor.com,
semafor.com,
10 Oct. 2025
-
The plot thickened last year when Canadian authorities linked Bishnoi to the targeting of Sikh separatists on its soil, including the killing of activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was gunned down in British Columbia in 2023.—
Rhea Mogul,
CNN Money,
7 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
For years, Hollywood content creators have warned about piracy, whether through bootleg VHS tapes, or BitTorrent, or renegade streaming providers.—
Dominic Patten,
Deadline,
9 Oct. 2025
-
Skarsgård has long been a red carpet renegade, showing flashes of that playful freak that lives within.—
Anna Cafolla,
Vogue,
3 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Schismatic.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/schismatic. Accessed 22 Oct. 2025.
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