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I was hoping to find the antonym for "faction", i checked http://www.synonyms.net/synonym/faction which provided other related. However, I didn't want to use a word that could be related to 'evil' :)

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sect, clique, group, side, block – mgb Nov 6 '11 at 20:37
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A faction is a group within a larger group -- what on earth would its opposite be? – onomatomaniak Nov 6 '11 at 20:42
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@Martin: Surely all those are effectively synonyms of faction. I'd have thought the antonym would simply be the majority. – FumbleFingers Nov 6 '11 at 20:55
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I'm confused; are you really looking for an antonym, or a synonym? – Karl Knechtel Nov 7 '11 at 0:11
A "faction" is a party or division within a larger population, usually used in the context of political groups or some other interest group. It seems to me that the opposite of a faction would be the opposing group. Like, if you call Democrats a faction, their opposite would be the Republicans. So by that reasoning, the opposite of "faction" is ... "faction". – Jay Nov 7 '11 at 4:43

closed as not a real question by onomatomaniak, Jasper Loy, KitFox♦, simchona♦, z7sg Ѫ Nov 7 '11 at 14:57

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4 Answers

up vote 2 down vote

Since a faction is a group within a group, the antonym would be the rest of the group.

If the faction is small, the antonym would be "mainstream" or "mainline".

However, if the faction is in the majority, the antonym would be "the minority".

Of course, you have to realize that if the group is split into half, there would simply be one fact and then another faction. Whereas, if the containing group was split into multiples, it would be one faction and then all other factions (thereby going into "mainstream" or "the minority").

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With two equal groups, it's two factions. With a bunch of groups, it's the faction and the majority. Alternatively, it would be the faction and the minority.

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Of course, it's possible to get into "the minority faction" vs "the majority faction" when there are two separate factions. – Richard Nov 6 '11 at 20:59
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If you are talking about people who are not in a faction, you could use unaffiliated or simply everyone else.

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up vote 1 down vote

'Antonym' can go in different directions: the complement of a set, the inverse direction of a relation, absence of a property rather than presence. Since faction is one part of a whole and in distinction to the rest, the most relevant antonym would be functional and so

union

would be the single 'opposite' to faction.

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up vote 0 down vote

Consider bloc, with meanings "1. a group of voters or politicians who share common goals" and "2. a group of countries acting together for political or economic goals, an alliance: e.g., the eastern bloc, the western bloc, a trading bloc".

Also consider using consensus ("a process of decision-making that seeks widespread agreement among group members") to refer metaphorically to an agglomeration of consenting parties.

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