fraternity
Americannoun
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a local or national organization of male students, primarily for social purposes, usually with secret initiation and rites and a name composed of two or three Greek letters.
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a group of persons associated by or as if by ties of brotherhood.
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any group or class of persons having common purposes, interests, etc..
the medical fraternity.
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an organization of laymen for religious or charitable purposes; sodality.
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the quality of being brotherly; brotherhood.
liberty, equality, and fraternity.
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the relation of a brother or between brothers.
noun
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Gender-neutral form: community. a body of people united in interests, aims, etc
the teaching fraternity
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brotherhood
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a secret society joined by male students, usually functioning as a social club
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of fraternity
1300–50; Middle English fraternite < Latin frāternitās. See fraternal, -ity
Explanation
A fraternity is a group of people who work in the same industry or have similar careers. Your dad's fraternity of firefighters holds lots of charity events and get-togethers. Most often, a fraternity is a social club or group made up of men, but it can refer to any organization of people with something in common. At a college or university, a fraternity is a club for men that's by invitation only. Members of these frats, as they are called, often live together in one house and socialize primarily with each other. Fraternity comes from the Latin word fraternitas, meaning "brotherhood."
Vocabulary lists containing fraternity
Anthem
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The Catcher in the Rye
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Stand in "Solidarity": 30 Words to Remind us English is at Least 30 Percent French
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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.
A police arrest report reviewed by US media outlets states that Mr Wilson and eight others pledging the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity were struck by Mr McCray and at least two others wearing boxing gloves.
From BBC • Mar. 8, 2025
My big brother joined Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Incorporated in the Spring of ’92 and made himself a legend.
From Salon • Feb. 19, 2024
He is also listed as producer for a 2018 movie called “Haunting on Fraternity Row,” along with at least two short films.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 2, 2024
Then we’ll hear more from Joel’s interview with Diane Brady, who wrote the book Fraternity about the 20 Black men—including Thomas—recruited to Holy Cross in 1968.
From Slate • May 31, 2023
Contractors had begun erecting two of the firm’s newest, tallest Chicago skyscrapers, the Women’s Christian Temperance Union Temple and the Masonic Fraternity Temple, at twenty-one stories the tallest building in the world.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
