Word of the Day for Sunday May 22, 2005 faction \FAK-shuhn\, noun: 1. A usually contentious or self-seeking group within a larger group, party, government, etc. 2. Party strife and intrigue; internal dissension. For most of his colleagues, Leonid Ilich Brezhnev, who had succeeded Khrushchev as First (later General) Secretary, was a far more reassuring figure -- affable, lightweight and patient in reconciling opposing factions, though skillful in outmaneuvering his political rivals. --Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin, [1]The Sword and the Shield Leaders of the party's reform faction, decisively defeated for top posts, have not heeded the call for post-election unity. --"El Salvador: Orthodox Faction Holds on to Power in the FMLN," [2]NotiCen, December 6, 2001 As Madison wrote in Federalist no. 10, the purpose of the Constitution was to constrain special interest politics, or what he called "the violence of faction." --James T. Bennett and Thomas J. Di Lorenzo, CancerScam While Britannia Triumphans opened with a scene in which rebellious citizens of past reigns are dispelled by Heroic Virtue, faction, disorder and rebellion were much harder to deal with in British society. --John Brewer, [3]The Pleasures of the Imagination _________________________________________________________ Faction comes from Latin factio, faction-, from the past participle of facere, "to do, to make." References 1. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0465003125/ref=nosim/lexico 2. http://ladb.unm.edu/noticen/ 3. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0226074196/ref=nosim/lexico Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=9&q=faction