fraternity
[fruh-tur-ni-tee]
- 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.
- a group of persons associated by or as if by ties of brotherhood.
- any group or class of persons having common purposes, interests, etc.: the medical fraternity.
- an organization of laymen for religious or charitable purposes; sodality.
- the quality of being brotherly; brotherhood: liberty, equality, and fraternity.
- the relation of a brother or between brothers.
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Origin of fraternity
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for fraternity
Contemporary Examples
And an anonymous junior in a fraternity at Emory University feels similarly.
And how do fraternity members feel about their organizations being on the chopping block?
One male student told me about a teammate in a fraternity who struggled with an eating disorder.
From speaking with USC fraternity brothers, it almost seems worse for the boys.
Earlier this year, the fraternity news website Total Frat Move declared Fireball “the most popular shot for college students.”
Historical Examples
We sense the call of the human heart for fellowship, fraternity, and cooperation.
For the cause of just fraternity, and the equal rights of man.
In the cause of just fraternity, and the equal rights of man!
For the cause of just fraternity, and the equal rights of man!
And sneer'd at just fraternity, and the equal rights of man.
fraternity
- a body of people united in interests, aims, etcthe teaching fraternity Gender-neutral form: community
- brotherhood
- US and Canadian a secret society joined by male students, usually functioning as a social club
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for fraternity
n.
early 14c., "body of men associated by common interest," from Old French fraternité (12c.), from Latin fraternitatem (nominative fraternitas) "brotherhood," from fraternus "brotherly," from frater "brother," from PIE *bhrater (see brother). Meaning "state or condition of being as brothers" is from late 15c. College Greek-letter organization sense is from 1777, first in reference to Phi Beta Kappa.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper