schismatic

/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.

schismatic means of or pertaining to a schism. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 81 out of 100.

Why this word is great

SCHISMATIC — [Adjective/Noun] Of, relating to, or causing division, especially within a religious body; a person who promotes or engages in such a rupture. From Middle English scismatik, from Middle French scismatique, from Late Latin schismaticus, from Ancient Greek σχισματικός (skhismatikós), from σχίσμα (skhísma, "cleft, division"). Unlike "heretical" (which primarily denotes deviation from core doctrinal beliefs) or "dissident" (a general term for political opposition), "schismatic" is the specific, solemn act of rending the communal fabric, a formal rupture within a sacred body. It is the sound of a cathedral door closing for the last time, the deliberate scoring of a parchment map along a new doctrinal border, and the palpable warmth of a rival altar newly kindled across town—the architecture of absence that proves a division is not an idea but a fact, confessing that the deepest wounds are not from strangers, but from the cleaving of what was once whole.

adj

Of or pertaining to a schism.
Of or pertaining to a schisma.
Divisive.“schismatic opinions or proposals”

noun

A person involved in a schism.“He semeth a sysmatyke Or els an heretike, For fayth in hym is faynte.”