confraternity

American  

[kon-fruh-tur-ni-tee] / ˌkɒn frəˈtɜr nɪ ti /

noun

plural

confraternities

1. a lay brotherhood devoted to some purpose, especially to religious or charitable service.

2. a society or organization, especially of men, united for some purpose or in some profession.

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confraternity British  

/ ˌkɒnfrəˈtɜːnɪtɪ /

noun

1. a group of men united for some particular purpose, esp Christian laymen organized for religious or charitable service; brotherhood

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Other Word Forms

• confraternal adjective

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

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

In the 16th century, one confraternity built a small church inside the arena, Santa Maria della Pieta, which still exists.

From New York Times • Jun. 12, 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

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