fraternity

American  

[fruh-tur-ni-tee] / frəˈtɜr nɪ ti /

noun

• fraternities
  plural

1. a local or national organization of male students, primarily for social purposes, usually with secret initiation and rites and a name composed of two or three Greek letters.

2. a group of persons associated by or as if by ties of brotherhood.

3. any group or class of persons having common purposes, interests, etc..

   the medical fraternity.

4. an organization of laymen for religious or charitable purposes; sodality.

5. the quality of being brotherly; brotherhood.

   liberty, equality, and fraternity.

6. the relation of a brother or between brothers.

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fraternity British  

/ frəˈtɜːnɪtɪ /

noun

1. Gender-neutral form: community.  a body of people united in interests, aims, etc

   the teaching fraternity

2. brotherhood

3. a secret society joined by male students, usually functioning as a social club

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonfraternity
  noun
• interfraternity
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• fraternities
  plural

Etymology

Origin of fraternity

1300–50; Middle English fraternite < Latin frāternitās. See fraternal, -ity

Explanation

A fraternity is a group of people who work in the same industry or have similar careers. Your dad's fraternity of firefighters holds lots of charity events and get-togethers. Most often, a fraternity is a social club or group made up of men, but it can refer to any organization of people with something in common. At a college or university, a fraternity is a club for men that's by invitation only. Members of these frats, as they are called, often live together in one house and socialize primarily with each other. Fraternity comes from the Latin word fraternitas, meaning "brotherhood."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fraternity fraternities

The Welsh gymnastics fraternity were still in the building and you could hear their whooping and cheering as Ruby showed off her medal.

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026

We had one event in a fraternity house backyard in Virginia, we had events in Mexico City and Montreal … canned food drives, blood drives or, you know, register to vote.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026

Extracurriculars that “highlight team leadership, whether it’s in a sorority or fraternity, or the newspaper, certainly help us see that those individuals are motivated and are more likely to succeed,” she said.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 18, 2026

He plans to study at the library, join clubs and might rush a fraternity.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026

“Didn’t you read about those fancy professors asking those questions in that—that Convocation? Why, they’d’ve let her right in. If it hadn’t been for those fraternity boys....”

From "Go Set a Watchman: A Novel" by Harper Lee

Gipson said Washington was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, one of the oldest African American fraternities in the U.S., according to its website.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 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

The publication was founded in 1955 by the legendary gadfly William F. Buckley Jr. as a salon for the various right-leaning fraternities in American life: fire-eating libertarians, orthodox Catholics, conspiratorial anti-communists.

From Slate ● Apr. 25, 2025

Our institutions, churches, organizations, fraternities, sororities and associations have been the source of our strength and resilience.

From Salon ● Jan. 21, 2025

Modeled on the fraternities then springing up on college campuses, the group took its name from the Greek word kuklos, meaning band.

From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson

Related Words

• camaraderie
• guild
• sorority