faction

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A group of persons forming a cohesive, usually contentious minority within a larger group.
2. n. Conflict within an organization or nation; internal dissension: "Our own beloved country . . . is now afflicted with faction and civil war” ( Abraham Lincoln).
3. n. A form of literature or filmmaking that treats real people or events as if they were fictional or uses real people or events as essential elements in an otherwise fictional rendition.
4. n. A literary work or film that is a mix of fact and fiction.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A party of persons having a common end in view; usually, such a party seeking by irregular means to bring about changes in government or in the existing state of affairs, or in any association of which they form part; a combination of persons using subversive or perverse methods of promoting their own selfish or partizan views or interests, especially in matters of state.
2. n. Combined disorderly opposition to established authority; turbulence; tumult; dissension.
3. n. In Roman antiquity, one of the classes into which the charioteers in the circensian games were divided, one of each contending in a race. The four regular factions, distinguished by their dresses as the green, red, blue, and white, represented spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Domitian added purple and yellow factions, making six contestants in every race; but these new divisions were not permanent. A dispute in Constantinople, in 532, between the green and blue factions and their partizans, the emperor Justinian favoring the latter, led to a civil war of five days, which cost 30,000 lives and nearly overthrew the government.
4. n. Synonyms Combination, Party, etc. See cabal.

Wiktionary

1. n. A group of people, especially within a political organization, who express a shared belief or opinion different from people who are not part of the group.
2. n. Strife; discord.
3. n. A form of literature, film etc., that treats real people or events as if they were fiction; a mix of fact and fiction

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Anc. Hist.) One of the divisions or parties of charioteers (distinguished by their colors) in the games of the circus.
2. n. A party, in political society, combined or acting in union, in opposition to the government, or state; -- usually applied to a minority, but it may be applied to a majority; a combination or clique of partisans of any kind, acting for their own interests, especially if greedy, clamorous, and reckless of the common good.
3. n. Tumult; discord; dissension.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a clique (often secret) that seeks power usually through intrigue
2. n. a dissenting clique