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Synonyms

brethren

American  
[breth-rin] / ˈbrɛð rɪn /

plural noun

  1. fellow members.

  2. Archaic. brothers.


brethren British  
/ ˈbrɛðrɪn /

plural noun

  1. archaic a plural of brother

  2. 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.

Our chickens, on the other hand, are treated abominably, packed in tightly with their germy brethren, raised in squalor, pumped with hormones, and only made clean at the end.

From Slate • Feb. 13, 2026

Yes, the big four—JPMorgan Chase, Goldman, Morgan Stanley, and Bank of America—are still formidable, but in many cases they’ve been eclipsed, particularly as compensation-making machines, by their private-market brethren and their multigenerational wealth-creating fee structures.

From Barron's • Dec. 5, 2025

For years, Tadej Pogacar and his professional cycling brethren had been given promises about this bike-mad pocket of East Africa.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 10, 2025

As Liu learned, if you, a human, eat your distant vegetable brethren, you can get a lot of pipecolic acid in your diet: cucumbers, for example, are high in it.

From Salon • Mar. 5, 2025

“Apparently,” he said, “apparently our brethren in the Northland are not content merely with the Supreme Court’s activities. They are now trying to change our hymns on us.”

From "Go Set a Watchman: A Novel" by Harper Lee