Other forms: factions
A faction is a small group inside a larger one, pulling its own way. A rival faction, party factions, factional infighting.
The word carries disapproval: calling a group a faction says it puts its own aims above the whole. It is standard in political reporting and in the history of parties and churches. Note factional, factionalism; and that faction and fashion are the same Latin word, factio, meaning a making or a doing — one became a group acting together and the other a way of doing things.
1nounfactionA small group inside a larger one, pulling its own way.
“A small faction within the party wanted to replace the leader before the election.”
faction is an internal group.
Latin factio means a group acting together, from facere, to do or make. Fashion is the same word arriving through French, so faction and fashion are doublets.
Proto-Indo-European
*dʰeh₁-
Latin
factiō — a group of people acting together, a political faction
Middle French
faction
English, today
faction
Built from
Middle French faction, from Latin factiō (“a group of people acting together, a political faction”), noun of process from perfect passive participle factus, from faciō (“do, make”). a doublet of fashion.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA