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:
Chris Weitz, who co-directed the film with his brother Paul, saw the film as one about depression.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 7, 2026
The comments left Lake and the two hosts — Detroit Lions receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown and his brother, former NFL receiver Equanimeous St. Brown — in stitches.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026
His younger brother Trevoh, currently a Como defender, made the first of his three international appearances against Senegal in June 2025 and was in England's 2026 World Cup squad.
From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026
Was your brother involved in arranging the will, choosing the lawyer and witnesses, driving your father to the appointment or sitting in on the meeting when the will was signed?
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 5, 2026
“This is my big brother Peter’s magic compass. He just follows where the arrow points, and we follow him. It is how we got here. Simple.”
From "An Elephant in the Garden" by Michael Morpurgo
But in the penultimate episode, Blunt and Sheen stumbled on to a theory that the quiet contestants were more suspicious than their outspoken brethren.
From BBC ● Nov. 3, 2026
Historically, when this gap has been in the top quintile, it’s led to an average 7.5% outperformance over the following year for higher-quality stocks over their lower-quality brethren.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 19, 2026
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
As they grew, these companies became far larger than the rest of their small and midsize brethren, so their continued gains gave an outsize boost to the indexes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
Their brethren from the cafe were running up to join them.
From "The Titan's Curse" by Rick Riordan
The fraternity brothers accused by Doe have denied her claims.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026
He was filming “Stuck on You” in 2002, with the Farrelly brothers at the helm.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026
Hieu shares a Murphy bed with his brothers, surrounded by jars of balloons—the tools of the trade for a mom who swapped an architecture career for freelance balloon artistry.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026
"I've got four brothers and I'm the only daughter," she said.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026
After Mama died, followed so fast by my two brothers, I was heavy with grief.
From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan
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