fraternity

American  

[fruh-tur-ni-tee] / frəˈtɜr nɪ ti /

noun

plural

fraternities

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

• interfraternity adjective
• nonfraternity noun

Etymology

Origin of fraternity

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

Example Sentences

We’d heard he was a member of Beta Theta Pi fraternity.

From The Wall Street Journal

He belonged to a fraternity—half cult, half mainstream—that extended from Richard Brautigan to Thomas Pynchon, with Kurt Vonnegut in between.

From The Wall Street Journal

I started my career in journalism, I should say, went to school for journalism at Northwestern University, and Stuart was also a member of my fraternity Alpha Phi Alpha.

From Los Angeles Times

Friday from a fraternity house off campus on Greek Row about an unresponsive person who had possibly drowned.

From Los Angeles Times

There were three sororities and three fraternities when I was on campus.

From Literature

Related Words

• camaraderie
• guild
• sorority