Insignificant people in dissenting cliques (7)
I believe the answer is:
insects
'insignificant people' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both people as well as being plural nouns.
Maybe you can see a link between them that I can't see?
'in dissenting cliques' is the wordplay.
'dissenting cliques' becomes 'sects' (I've seen this before).
'in'+'sects'='INSECTS'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for insects that I've seen before include "Six-leggged creatures" , "Small arthropods" , "Tiny creatures" , "Flies, fleas etc" , "Small invertebrate creatures" .)