confraternity
Americannoun
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confraternities
plural
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a lay brotherhood devoted to some purpose, especially to religious or charitable service.
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a society or organization, especially of men, united for some purpose or in some profession.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of confraternity
1425–75; late Middle English confraternite < Medieval Latin confrāternitās, derivative of confrāter ( see confrere), on the model of Latin frāternitās fraternity
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 subject was popular among artists during the Renaissance, and Carpaccio told the overwrought story in a sequence of nine large canvases designed for a confraternity building known as the Scuola di Sant Orsola.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 9, 2022
A friend of his was robbed by a confraternity member resulting in a feud.
From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2020
The personages in the rotunda’s artworks, revolutionary warriors and Founding Fathers, seemed to look down at the body in a spirit of confraternity.
From The New Yorker ● Sep. 1, 2018
The band's hardcore fans, more used to the confraternity and real ale of the band's Gentlemen of the Road gigs, will find this step-up to be a mixed blessing.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 16, 2012
It is a testament to our confraternity, however, that a curious ground of agreement was eventually reached: the necessity of concealing all mourning at the smallpox burials, and displaying only dancing and festival triumph.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
Starting in the 14th century, two Christian confraternities — associations of laypeople — became affiliated with the Colosseum and began putting on representations of the Passion of Christ.
From New York Times ● Jun. 12, 2022
Ms. Rinaldi, the archaeologist, said it was possible that one of the confraternities also commissioned the painting.
From New York Times ● Jun. 12, 2022
He described the present confraternities as "vile, evil groups".
From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2020
Traipsing across Venice in search of Tintoretto clarified how thoroughly a Christian faith animated the formal invention of his greatest paintings, which I often found in obscure churches and cash-poor confraternities.
From New York Times ● Nov. 15, 2018
It was found that some of the confraternities attached to the churches were controlled by the Masons.
From The Friars in the Philippines by Ambrose Coleman
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