fraternity
Pluralfraternities
- 1A social organization of male students at a college or university, usually known by a name made up of Greek letters.
She told her son not to rush a fraternity until he had settled into his classes.
After the hazing reports, the university suspended three fraternities for the rest of the semester.
Note
The campus meaning belongs to American and Philippine English, and it brings its own verbs: a student rushes a fraternity, then pledges. Groups organized around social life are social fraternities, and Colin Schlank, speaking to CNN in 2018, gave the reason for the name: "you're trying to meet new people." The same report's headline, "They pledge. Get hazed.", shows where pledging can lead.
- 2A body of people associated with one another for a common purpose.
The proposal drew sharp criticism from the medical fraternity, which saw it as a threat to doctors' independence.
Small fraternities of stamp collectors swap rarities by mail and meet once a year.
Similarcommunity, profession, brotherhood, circle, society
Note
Applied to a profession, the word pictures its members as one body that acts together: the medical fraternity. That picture can carry an edge. In 1976 Linda Curtis spoke of "raw power wielded by the well-organized fraternities of the medical profession." The sense is old, too: Thomas Coryate already uses it in Coryat's Crudities (1611).
- 3The state of being brothers, or the quality of being brotherly toward one another.
Years after the war, the veterans still spoke of the fraternity they had known in the trenches.
The founders hoped the new constitution would foster fraternity among citizens of every faith.
Similarbrotherhood, fellowship, camaraderie, comradeship, solidarity
Note
Behind every use of the word stands Latin frāter, "brother": its derivative frāternitās passed through Old French fraternité into Middle English as fraternite. In this abstract sense the word works with or without an article: fraternity among citizens, the fraternity they had known in the trenches. The "group" meaning and the campus club turn that bond into something one can join.
Practice
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Origin
From Middle English fraternite, borrowed from Old French fraternité, from Latin frāternitās. It ultimately comes from Latin frāter ("brother"), which is linked to the Proto-Indo-European word *bʰréh₂tēr.