sorority
Americannoun
-
sororities
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of sorority
1525–35; < Medieval Latin sorōritās, equivalent to Latin sorōr- (stem of soror ) sister + -itās -ity
Explanation
If you join a sorority, you're joining a social organization for women, typically one based at a university or college. Your sorority probably has a lot of social events such as meetings, mixers, galas, and fundraisers. First used in the 1530s, the noun sorority stems from the Middle Latin word sororitas, meaning "sisterhood, of or pertaining to sisters." Although members of a sorority aren't actually biological sisters, the idea is to form a strong bond between members — or "sisters" — based on commitment to the group. To build allegiance, members of a sorority might wear the same sweatshirts with Greek letters and attend social events and regular club meetings.
Vocabulary lists containing sorority
Tears of a Tiger
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When I Was the Greatest
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The Parker Inheritance
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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:
One of Istomin’s sorority sisters started a burner account so they could assess pages without giving anything away.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
The victims of the crash were Alpha Phi sorority sisters Niamh Rolston, 20; Peyton Stewart, 21; Asha Weir, 21; and Deslyn Williams, 21, who all received their degrees posthumously.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
We first meet her in her inner sanctum, her extremely girly bedroom in the depths of her extremely girly sorority, Delta Nu.
From Salon ● Jul. 6, 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
We got the presidents of the sorority as our “big sisters,” which meant that throughout pledging, we escaped a lot of the hazing.
From "The Freedom Writers Diary" by The Freedom Writers
Do not talk about the sororities at your school.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026
Members of AKA and other black sororities form a tight-knit national network that helped boost Harris's presidential bids this year and in 2019.
From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2024
When it comes to getting involved in elections, fraternities and sororities are in a bit of a tricky spot.
From Slate ● Oct. 17, 2024
Members of Black sororities and fraternities are no strangers to political engagement either, having built practices of civic engagement around addressing community-specific inequities.
From Salon ● Aug. 23, 2024
She was asked to join high school sororities.
From "Farewell to Manzanar" by Jeanne Houston
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.
