schismatic meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

schismatic

adj

UK /ʃɪzˈmæt.ɪk/ · US /ʃɪzˈmæt.ɪk/

Etymology From Middle English scismatik with etymological respelling, from Middle French scismatique, from Latin schismaticus, from Ancient Greek σχισματικός (skhismatikós), from σχίσμα (skhísma, “cleft, division”). The music sense is based on schisma, from the same ultimate Greek source; compare schism.

Lifestyle, Religion Of or pertaining to a schism.

The pontiff had made a last-ditch effort to persuade the society to halt the ordinations, calling them a “schismatic act” and a “sin of extreme gravity”.2026 July 1, Angela Giuffrida, “Fears of Catholic schism as defiant sect ordains ultra-conservative bishops”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

Entertainment, Lifestyle, Music Of or pertaining to a schisma.

Divisive.

schismatic opinions or proposals

Derived terms: schismatic temperament

schismatic

noun

Lifestyle, Religion A person involved in a schism.

He semeth a sysmatyke Or els an heretike, For fayth in hym is faynte.c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood, editor, John Skelton: The Complete English Poems, 1983, →OCLC, page 62, lines 17–19:
Amid heretics and schismatics, spoilers of the church’s lands, and scoffers at saints and sacraments, there remains a remnant.1820, [Walter Scott], chapter XIII, in The Abbot. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne & Co.] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Company, and John Ballantyne, […], →OCLC, page 267: