frat
Americannoun
-
frats
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of frat
An Americanism dating back to 1890–95; by shortening
Explanation
A frat is a club for male college students. The stereotypical frat boy is a rich kid on spring break drinking beer, doing chest bumps, and crashing Daddy’s Mercedes. But of course some frat boys are very nice. Seriously, bro. The word frat is short for fraternity, and both words mean "body of men associated by common interest," from the Latin root fraternitatem, or "brotherhood." A frat will usually have their own house and a name made up of two or three Greek letters. A frat can be a close-knit community of young men who live, work, and volunteer in the community together. Some frats, however, are exclusionary societies that haze new members and throw drunken campus parties.
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 epistemic mismatch between her idea of what would transpire and the frat brothers’ is truly tragic.
From Slate ● Oct. 9, 2026
From shoulder shimmies and frat flicks to somersaults and knee slides, the Flemings and Schifferles left it all on the dance floor to prove the prowess of their family name.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
But we didn’t want to take away the party — we wanted to take away the idea it was a frat house with no rules.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 10, 2026
Polymarket has offered to pay fraternities, in exchange for signing up users, money that can be spent on throwing “epic parties”—one frat raised $30,510 over a two-week period.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 6, 2026
How his hand had touched the small of my back to steer me through a crowd of rowdy frat guys in the dining room.
From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez
At Cornell this week, more students are questioning whether frats are the right vehicle to build community.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 3, 2026
Do you think people who are in frats will appreciate that "The Line" is authentic, even though the film doesn't paint them in a good light?
From Salon ● Jun. 7, 2023
He added that frats that disaffiliate are working with professionals to create their own interfraternity council and that it would probably be operating in time for fall recruitment — which would likely include freshmen.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2022
What do you think should be done to keep frats a safe place for young pledges?
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 31, 2020
This was Haviland's first day at the house; they could josh other frats later, if he came their way; just now it was a break.
From Stanford Stories Tales of a Young University by Charles K. (Charles Kellogg) Field
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.
