brother
Americannoun
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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:
He previously studied at Lambrook School in Berkshire, alongside his sister Charlotte and brother Louis.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
‘I am at a loss’: My brother is dying.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026
Of five proposed directors named in WLF’s proposal, two are named Witkoff: Zachary Witkoff and Robert Witkoff, who is Steve Witkoff’s brother.
From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2026
The rift with his family members was made public in 2016 when younger brother Jordan Rodgers was a contestant on “The Bachlorette.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
Elisha was buried on March 14, 1857, in the Kane family mausoleum, next to his little brother Willie.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
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
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
The league, as leagues do, will maintain this is still an emerging business that cannot approach the finances of the NBA and its brethren.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2025
Bad luck for those poor ants, singled out while minding their own business amongst their brethren.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
Musically, the Shears brothers aren’t shy about how their variety of influences affects their output.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
Around them, brothers and sisters play between the headstones of siblings whose lives were cut short.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
The actor’s brothers allege that, because of their lack of access to Boseman’s estate, they are “blocked from pursuing lucrative business opportunities” that might benefit their “elderly parents.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
The brothers, who are being held in federal detention, appeared before a magistrate in Miami on Monday, where a lawyer representing them said they would fight their extradition to the U.K.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
She hee-hee-ed and ha-ha-ed and giggle-gaggled and fell into the straw, rolling in it like one of her brothers.
From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff
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.
