schism

1. 1.

   division of a group into opposing factions

   “another schism like that and they will wind up in bankruptcy”

   Synonymssplit

   Broaderdivision
2. 2.

   the formal separation of a church into two churches or the withdrawal of one group over doctrinal differences

   Broaderrupture

   NarrowerGreat Schism

Other forms of schism

plural

schisms·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about schism

What does schism mean?

schism means "division of a group into opposing factions". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in schism?

schism has 2 syllables, though it cannot be divided in writing — the spelling has fewer vowels than the word has beats. In IPA it is /ˈskɪzəm/.

What is another word for schism?

Close synonyms include split. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is schism a common word?

schism is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.