brother

American  

[bruhth-er, bruhth-ur] / ˈbrʌð ər, ˈbrʌðˈɜr /

noun

• brothers,
  plural
• brethren
  plural (Archaic)

1. a male offspring having both parents in common with another offspring; a male sibling.

2. Also called half brother. a male offspring having only one parent in common with another offspring.

3. a stepbrother.

4. a male numbered among the same kinship group, nationality, ethnicity, profession, etc., as another; an associate; a fellow member, fellow countryman, fellow man, etc..

   a fraternity brother.

5. Ecclesiastical.

   1. (often initial capital letter) a male numbered among the lay members of a religious organization that has a priesthood.

   2. a man who devotes himself to the duties of a religious order without taking holy orders, or while preparing for holy orders.

6. brothers, all members of a particular racial or ethnic group, or of the human race in general.

   All men are brothers.

7. Slang. fellow; buddy.

   Brother, can you spare a dime?

8. Informal. a term used to refer to or address a fellow Black man; soul brother.

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interjection

1. Slang. (used to express disappointment, disgust, or surprise.)

brother British  

/ ˈbrʌðə /

noun

1. a male person having the same parents as another person

2. short for half-brother stepbrother

3. 1. a male person belonging to the same group, profession, nationality, trade union, etc, as another or others; fellow member

   2. ( as modifier )

      brother workers

4. comrade; friend: used as a form of address

5. Christianity

   1. a member of a male religious order who undertakes work for the order without actually being in holy orders

   2. a lay member of a male religious order

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interjection

1. slang an exclamation of amazement, disgust, surprise, disappointment, etc

Synonym Usage

Brothers, brethren are plurals of brother. Brothers are kinsmen, sons of the same parents: My mother lives with my brothers. Brethren, now archaic in the foregoing sense, is used of male members of a congregation or of a fraternal organization: The brethren will meet at the church.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• brotherless
  adjective
• brotherlike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• brethren
  plural
• brothers
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of brother

First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English brōthor; cognate with Dutch broeder, German Bruder, Old Norse brōthir, Gothic brothar, Sanskrit bhrātṛ, Greek phrā́tēr, Latin frāter, Old Irish bráthair, Old Church Slavonic bratrŭ

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

brother brethren brothers

It's Shea's 23rd birthday and he has a cake to surprise him, something he knows will embarrass his older brother.

From BBC ● Nov. 10, 2026

Then his only brother, Leonard Lauder, died at 92 last year, and his daughter Aerin Lauder Zinterhofer told him the family needed him to settle the museum’s fate.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 10, 2026

Smith is survived by her children, brother Norman Smith-Harllee and nephew Eliazar Smith-Harllee.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 10, 2026

Older brother Eoin and parents Mary and Kelvin often come to visit, too, and there's more debate over who makes the house presentable, and whether doing the dishwasher actually counts as a chore.

From BBC ● Nov. 10, 2026

Peter, the policemen, dear ugly Pickwick, all of us were there except my brother Willem and his family.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom

But in the penultimate episode, Blunt and Sheen stumbled on to a theory that the quiet contestants were more suspicious than their outspoken brethren.

From BBC ● Nov. 3, 2026

Historically, when this gap has been in the top quintile, it’s led to an average 7.5% outperformance over the following year for higher-quality stocks over their lower-quality brethren.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 19, 2026

One of the biggest shifts that put Wachtell and its brethren on the back foot was a move away from the so-called lockstep model, in which partner pay is closely tied to seniority.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026

After bidding a hearty olé to my literary brethren, I reach Café Gijón, outside the bounds of Las Letras, but not its spirit.

From Salon ● Jun. 23, 2026

The western riders commanded all the attention now but it was Randall and his brethren who were the true pioneers, carving out a life in this humid Georgia hell all those years ago.

From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead

The Charles brothers are just two players in a young and exciting Northern Ireland squad.

From BBC ● Nov. 10, 2026

"To get people talking about them and come across as the bad boys of the industry, the Houser brothers made it seem like GTA was encouraging kids to steal cars," said Mauco.

From Barron's ● Nov. 9, 2026

In the video, fraternity brothers can be seen running shirtless and holding Pilates poses in front of the Pi Kappa Alpha house at the University of Florida.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 8, 2026

The Weitz brothers and their co-writer Peter Hedges were nominated for best adapted screenplay at the Academy Awards.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 7, 2026

My brothers draw closer, and I want to disappear.

From "Across So Many Seas" by Ruth Behar

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Related Words

• relative
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