brethren
Americanplural noun
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archaic a plural of brother
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fellow members of a religion, sect, society, etc
Related Words
See brother.
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.
Our chickens, on the other hand, are treated abominably, packed in tightly with their germy brethren, raised in squalor, pumped with hormones, and only made clean at the end.
From Slate • Feb. 13, 2026
The Azeris of Iran eye their flourishing Turkic brethren in Azerbaijan with a degree of envy.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 16, 2026
Yes, the big four—JPMorgan Chase, Goldman, Morgan Stanley, and Bank of America—are still formidable, but in many cases they’ve been eclipsed, particularly as compensation-making machines, by their private-market brethren and their multigenerational wealth-creating fee structures.
From Barron's • Dec. 5, 2025
And rethinking rights could also allow us to increasingly understand our animal brethren, in a kind of virtuous circle.
From Salon • May 29, 2025
Leo had thought she’d meant Narcissus, but now he wondered if the real lesson for him was Echo—invisible to her brethren, cursed to love someone who didn’t care for her.
From "The Mark of Athena" by Rick Riordan
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.
