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fraternal

American  
[fruh-tur-nl] / frəˈtɜr nl /

adjective

  1. of or befitting a brother or brothers; brotherly.

  2. of or being a society of men associated in brotherly union, as for mutual aid or benefit.

    a fraternal order; a fraternal association.
fraternal British  
/ frəˈtɜːnəl /

adjective

  1. of or suitable to a brother; brotherly

  2. of or relating to a fraternity

  3. designating either or both of a pair of twins of the same or opposite sex that developed from two separate fertilized ova Compare identical

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • fraternalism noun
  • fraternally adverb
  • interfraternal adjective
  • interfraternally adverb
  • nonfraternal adjective
  • nonfraternally adverb
  • prefraternal adjective
  • prefraternally adverb
  • quasi-fraternal adjective
  • quasi-fraternally adverb
  • unfraternal adjective
  • unfraternally adverb

Etymology

Origin of fraternal

1375–1425; late Middle English < Latin frātern ( us ) fraternal (derivative of frāter brother ) + -al 1

Compare meaning

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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.