brother
Americannoun
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brothers,
plural
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brethren
plural (Archaic)
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a male offspring having both parents in common with another offspring; a male sibling.
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Also called half brother. a male offspring having only one parent in common with another offspring.
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a stepbrother.
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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.
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Ecclesiastical.
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(often initial capital letter) a male numbered among the lay members of a religious organization that has a priesthood.
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a man who devotes himself to the duties of a religious order without taking holy orders, or while preparing for holy orders.
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brothers, all members of a particular racial or ethnic group, or of the human race in general.
All men are brothers.
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Brother, can you spare a dime?
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Informal. a term used to refer to or address a fellow Black man; soul brother.
interjection
noun
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a male person having the same parents as another person
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short for half-brother stepbrother
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a male person belonging to the same group, profession, nationality, trade union, etc, as another or others; fellow member
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( as modifier )
brother workers
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comrade; friend: used as a form of address
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Christianity
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a member of a male religious order who undertakes work for the order without actually being in holy orders
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a lay member of a male religious order
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interjection
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
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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
Vocabulary lists containing 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.
See Examples For:
The only portrait of Henry’s older brother, Prince Arthur, made before Arthur’s premature death in 1502, joined the Hever lineup in 2005.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026
Zach told the outlet that he made plans to get lunch and play indoor golf with his brother and the actor after church on Sunday morning.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2026
Ubaid Shah, Naseem Shah's younger brother, should come in next week.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
In late 2019, the cracks were visible, with Harry admitting in a television interview that he and his brother were on "different paths".
From Barron's ● Aug. 21, 2026
Did she not think I was good enough for her brother?
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
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 U.S. players have made it abundantly clear that they respect their Canadian brethren.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 27, 2026
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
His other brethren form up behind him, dancing and somersaulting with the zeal of acrobats at a carnival.
From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir
How about, as his mother suggests, his lack of male companionship because his brothers died so young?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
“I have brothers that I can go and rely on, and coming back home to my family has been easy. I don’t really focus on the outside noise.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026
"Gentlemen, stop screwing around and get over here to help your brothers gear up the parachute. Find yourself a good-looking life companion and get to work," he shouted.
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
Last season, two of her younger brothers were also relieved of their duties in the Lakers’ scouting department.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
Too many men from our community were killed in the Turkish War of Independence—husbands, fathers, uncles, brothers, sons, cousins.
From "Across So Many Seas" by Ruth Behar
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.
