confraternity

[kon-fruh-tur-ni-tee]

noun

plural

confraternities 

1. a lay brotherhood devoted to some purpose, especially to religious or charitable service.

2. a society or organization, especially of men, united for some purpose or in some profession.

confraternity

/ ˌkɒnfrəˈtɜːnɪtɪ /

noun

1. a group of men united for some particular purpose, esp Christian laymen organized for religious or charitable service; brotherhood

Other Word Forms

• confraternal adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of confraternity¹

1425–75; late Middle English confraternite < Medieval Latin confrāternitās, derivative of confrāter ( confrere ), on the model of Latin frāternitās fraternity

Word History and Origins

Origin of confraternity¹

C15: from Medieval Latin confrāternitās; see _confrère , _fraternity

Example Sentences

And the King will take an honorary, spiritual title associated with the abbey, becoming what's called a "royal confrater", as part of the abbey's confraternity.

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The subject was popular among artists during the Renaissance, and Carpaccio told the overwrought story in a sequence of nine large canvases designed for a confraternity building known as the Scuola di Sant Orsola.

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In the 16th century, one confraternity built a small church inside the arena, Santa Maria della Pieta, which still exists.

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Prosecco’s rock bottom prices were also blasphemous to the spirit of the confraternity’s founders, including his uncle and Ms. Bortolomiol’s father.

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Each new member then needed to chug half a bottle of the winner of the confraternity’s annual blind taste test.

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