Synonyms

brethren

American

[breth-rin] / ˈbrɛð rɪn /

plural noun

fellow members.
Archaic. brothers.

brethren British

/ ˈbrɛðrɪn /

plural noun

archaic a plural of brother
fellow members of a religion, sect, society, etc

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Related Words

See brother.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

These days, Greenlanders are shocked by how few words their brethren can speak in their ancestral tongue—and by the poverty of Native Americans in Alaska.

From The Wall Street Journal

The Azeris of Iran eye their flourishing Turkic brethren in Azerbaijan with a degree of envy.

From The Wall Street Journal

Just like the North Star and all its whirling, starry brethren, a person’s idea of where “home” is remains in perpetual motion, one’s whole life long.

From Literature

Even as its Big Tech brethren collect AI equipment, Apple is sticking to its rather asset-light ways.

From Barron's

The league, as leagues do, will maintain this is still an emerging business that cannot approach the finances of the NBA and its brethren.

From The Wall Street Journal

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023