From Hull AWE
- The word may be used of a group of individuals who share a distinctive interpretation of a particular religious faith (almost always Christianity). Thus we may say that the Methodist Church is one of the largest Protestant denominations in England
From Hull AWE
- The word may be used of a group of individuals who share a distinctive interpretation of a particular religious faith (almost always Christianity). Thus we may say that the Methodist Church is one of the largest Protestant denominations in England, or that in Western Europe nearly all the Christian denominations have in recent years suffered a significant decline in membership. In this use 'denomination', 'Church' and'sect' are often interchangeable, though the word sect, which tends to have a slightly pejorative sense, is most appropriately used of a small religious group which has broken away from a larger group and may have a rather exclusive attitude to membership, by contrast with denominations or Churches, which are more inclusive in their attitude. It would, for example, be wrong to describe the Anglican Church or the Roman Catholic Church as sects, though both are denominations or Churches. AWE has a page outlining the Principal Christian Denominations, along with separate articles on the more important of these.
- The word may also be used of the individual units in systems of value, weight, measurement, and the like, and perhaps most frequently in connection with the units of a currency. Thus banknotes with a large value (e.g., £200) may be described as notes of high denomination (or high-denomination notes), and banknotes with a small value (e.g., £