Freemason

American  

[free-mey-suhn, free-mey-] / ˈfriˌmeɪ sən, ˌfriˈmeɪ- /

noun

1. a member of a widely distributed secret order Free and Accepted Masons, having for its object mutual assistance and the promotion of brotherly love among its members.

2. (lowercase)

   1. one of a class of skilled stoneworkers of the Middle Ages, possessing secret signs and passwords.

   2. a member of a society composed of such workers, which also included honorary members accepted masons not connected with the building trades.

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Freemason ¹ British  

/ ˌfriːməˈsɒnɪk, ˈfriːˌmeɪsən /

noun

1. Sometimes shortened to: Mason.  a member of the widespread secret order, constituted in London in 1717, of Free and Accepted Masons , pledged to brotherly love, faith, and charity

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freemason ² British  

/ ˈfriːˌmeɪsən, ˌfriːməˈsɒnɪk /

noun

1. medieval history a member of a guild of itinerant skilled stonemasons, who had a system of secret signs and passwords with which they recognized each other

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Other Word Forms

• Freemasonic adjective
• freemasonic adjective

Etymology

Origin of Freemason

First recorded in 1350–1400, Freemason is from the Middle English word fremason. See free, mason

Example Sentences

The newspaper said nine thousand Freemasons were marching, and thirty thousand people lined the street to welcome Cleopatra’s Needle to New York.

From Literature

Pike was a longtime leader of the Freemasons, a centuries-old secretive society, who paid for the statue.

From BBC

Officers in the Metropolitan Police could soon be made to tell bosses if they are part of the Freemasons.

From BBC

In the years immediately after the American Revolution, rumors and hoaxes circulated about dark plots by the Illuminati and Freemasons, suggesting those secret organizations wanted to control the republic.

From Seattle Times

All are members of the world’s largest secret society, the Freemasons—a group whose members include some of the world’s most influential people and whose secretive rituals have persisted for centuries.

From National Geographic