fraternity

American  

[fruh-tur-ni-tee] / frəˈtɜr nɪ ti /

noun

• fraternities
  plural

1. 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.

2. a group of persons associated by or as if by ties of brotherhood.

3. any group or class of persons having common purposes, interests, etc..

   the medical fraternity.

4. an organization of laymen for religious or charitable purposes; sodality.

5. the quality of being brotherly; brotherhood.

   liberty, equality, and fraternity.

6. the relation of a brother or between brothers.

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fraternity British  

/ frəˈtɜːnɪtɪ /

noun

1. Gender-neutral form: community. a body of people united in interests, aims, etc

   the teaching fraternity

2. brotherhood

3. a secret society joined by male students, usually functioning as a social club

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonfraternity
  noun
• interfraternity
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• fraternities
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of fraternity

1300–50; Middle English fraternite < Latin frāternitās. See fraternal, -ity

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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."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fraternity fraternities

Still, the following year, Chi Phi, the fraternity implicated in the Jane Doe case, was among a half-dozen at Cornell found responsible for hazing.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

On Tuesday, the school announced that it was suspending fraternity parties on campus for the rest of the year.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026

As a fraternity member, I have a direct stake in this question.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026

Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff said the suspension "will provide time for a thorough review of fraternity life at Cornell to determine whether and how it can safely continue."

From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2026

Bobby was making his debut among the elite chess fraternity of New York.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady

“What happens inside a fraternity party is really just a microcosm of what happens elsewhere on campus,” he said, insisting fraternities were “not a portal to Sodom and Gomorrah.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

To the extent fraternities need reform, it must come from within.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026

Colleges and universities are constantly kicking fraternities off campus for bad behavior, sometimes suspending them and sometimes expelling them permanently.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

The other barrier to abolishing fraternities is their popularity.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

Irish American through and through, Day had grown up just north of the Washington campus, in the area where the fraternities were located.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown

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Related Words

• camaraderie
• guild
• sorority

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