splinter groupˈsplinter group noun [countable] 
Examples
ExamplesEXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
Thesaurus- They are a hard-line conservative splinter group of the Republican Party.
- A week before the election a splinter group of the Moro National Liberation Front had taken several nuns captive.
- According to evidence given in the trial, the Commandos of Sacrifice were a Nahda splinter group.
- Every splinter group of liberalism was to centre round a café table.
- He'd quarrelled with them, and formed a splinter group of one.
- He was a leader of the 1892 splinter group in the Berlin Society.
- In Berlin a splinter group formed within the Society, but it did not secede until 1898.
Longman Language Activatora small group within a larger political or religious organization► faction
a group of people that have separated from a political or religious organization because they have different ideas a group of people within a larger political or religious organization who have different aims from many of the other people within it: · The pro-war faction within the party condemned any attempt at negotiation.· The whole of the country has been taken over and destroyed by warring factions.
► fringe a group of people in a political or religious organization who have ideas that most people in the organization do not agree with or think are extreme: · The terrorist fringe condemned the decision and threatened to use force.· Crusading journalist William Lloyd Garrison represented the radical fringe.lunatic fringe (=people with very extreme, stupid ideas): · a lunatic fringe of cranks and reactionaries, who probably still believe that the earth is flat
► splinter group a small group of people who leave a larger political or religious group to form their own smaller group, because they do not agree with the larger group's beliefs, aims, methods etc: · They broke away and formed a splinter group that believed in revolution, not gradual change.· The splinter group rapidly gained support from discontented members.
WORD SETS► Groupingsagitate, verbagitation, nounagitator, nounbipartisan, adjectivebipartite, adjectivebloc, nounBolshevik, nouncapitalism, nouncentrist, adjectivecoalition, nouncommie, nouncommunism, nouncommunist, nouncommunist, adjectiveCon, confederacy, nounconfederate, nounconfederation, nouncongress, nounconservatism, nounDem., disloyal, adjectivedissident, noundivide, verbdivisive, adjectivefascism, nounfascist, nounfederal, adjectivefederate, verbfederation, nounfront, nounginger group, nounhegemony, nounheterodox, adjectiveIndependent, nouninfighting, nouninterest group, nounIRA, nounIron Curtain, the, Lab, Labour, nounleftie, nounleftist, adjectiveleft-of-centre, adjectiveleft-wing, adjectivelefty, nounLib Dem, nounLiberal, nounLiberal Democrats, nounLiberal Party, loyalist, nounLuddite, nounmachine, nounmajority leader, nounminority leader, nounmoderate, adjectivemoderate, nounmonarchist, nounmovement, nounnationalism, nounnationalist, adjectivenationalist, nounNazi, nounneutral, adjectivenon-partisan, adjectivepalace revolution, nounparamilitary, adjectivepartisan, adjectivepartisan, nounparty, nounparty political, adjectiveparty politics, nounpinko, nounpro-, prefixpro-choice, adjectiveR, rabble-rousing, nounradical, nounrally, nounreactionary, adjectiverealign, verbrebel, nounrebellion, nounrebellious, adjectivered, adjectivered, nounrepublican, nounrevolt, nounrevolt, verbrevolutionary, adjectiverevolutionary, nounrightist, adjectiveright-of-centre, adjectiveright-wing, adjectiveroyalist, nounseparatist, nounspecial interest group, nounsplinter group, nounsplit, verbsubcommittee, nounsubversion, nounsuffragette, nounsympathizer, nounsympathy, nountendency, nounTory, nounTrotskyite, nountrue-blue, adjectiveUnionist, nounuprising, nounWhig, nounwing, noun