fraternal

US/fɹəˈtɝnəl/

fraternal adjective: of or pertaining to a brother or brothers.

Adjective

fraternal (comparative more fraternal, superlative most fraternal)

Of or pertaining to a brother or brothers.
- By Cognate or Domestic duties, we mean those which grow out of the different family relations; and which may be classed as conjugal, parental, filial, and fraternal.1844, Roswell Park, Pantology; or a systematic survey of human knowledge, page 89
- The Bhratridvitiya, or fraternal rite of the Hindoos, is an institution of this nature, being admirably calculated to cement the natural bond of union between brothers and sisters of the same family.1881, Shib Chunder Bose, The Hindoos as They Are: A Description of the Manners, Customs and the Inner Life of Hindoo Society in Bengal
Of or pertaining to a fraternity.
- The changing Afro-American class structure shaped the war and postwar growth of black religious and fraternal organizations in southern West Virginia.1990, Joe William Trotter, Coal, Class, and Color: Blacks in Southern West Virginia, 1915-32
- Ambivalence toward the larger society even permeated the Reichsbanner. the only SPD fraternal organization that, on paper at least, embraced bourgeois republican groups.1993, Donna Harsch, German Social Democracy and the Rise of Nazism
Platonic or friendly.
- […] a delighted shout from the children swung him toward the door again. His sister, Mrs. Gerard, stood there in carriage gown and sables, radiant with surprise. ¶ "Phil! You! Exactly like you, Philip, to come strolling in from the antipodes—dear fellow!" recovering from the fraternal embrace and...1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter I, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC
- He took advantage of this opportunity to consider Christian liberty in its relation to the demands of fraternal charity.1986, Henri de Lubac, The Christian Faith: An Essay on the Structure of the Apostles' Creed
Of twins or embryos, produced from two different eggs and sperm, and genetically distinct.
- Seventy percent of twins are fraternal and result from fertilization of two separate ova by two different sperm.2012, Leonard Crowley, An Introduction to Human Disease: Pathology and Pathophysiology Correlations, page 471
- Because each egg and each sperm of a fraternal zygote contain slightly different genetic material, these two embryos do not have identical genetic makeups.2012, James Luce, Chasing Davis: An Atheist's Guide to Morality Using Logic and Science

Noun

fraternal (plural fraternals)

A society formed to provide mutual aid, such as insurance.
- Here comes in the importance of the proposed bill for the uniform regulation of fraternals.1902, “Insurance and the Fraternals”, in The Underwriters Review, volumes 11-12, page 66
- Accident and health insurance written by fraternals are discussed under the section on fraternals.1967, Wisconsin Legislature Legislative Council, General Report of the Legislative Council to the Legislature
A fraternal twin.
- Her twins were adorable boy-girl fraternals who wore boy-girl clothes in the same fabric.2001, Susan Kohl, Twin Stories: Their Mysterious and Unique Bond, page 14
- The bulk of the confusion concerns identicals who are really fraternals.2005, Kevin J. Sharpe, Has Science Displaced the Soul?: Debating Love and Happiness, page 34

fraternal meaning in Hindi, Bengali, Kannada and Sanskrit

fraternal in Hindi

of or pertaining brothers: भ्रात्रीय bhrātrīya

fraternal in Kannada

ಸಹೋದರರ, ಸೋದರಿಕೆಯ, ಅಣ್ಣತಮ್ಮಂದಿರ, ಭ್ರಾತೃತ್ವದ, ಸ್ನೇಹ ಸೌಹಾರ್ದದ, ಒಡಹುಟ್ಟಿದವರ

fraternal in Sanskrit

of or pertaining brothers: भ्रात्रीय bhrātrīya

More languagesFewer languages

fraternal in Arabic: أَخَوِيّ ʔaḵawiyy

Examples of fraternal in a sentence

Yet, in leaving, Judah removes himself not only from fraternal violence but from familial destiny as well.1991, From Father to Son: Kinship, Conflict, and Continuity in Genesis:
North and South, fraternal and sororital organizations were an integral aspect of urban culture among the mass of working-class black men and women.2005, Robin D. G. Kelley, To Make Our World Anew: A History of African Americans:
Surfer dudes and frat dudes are simply buddies; their interaction is facilitated by the homosocial context of shared sport or fraternal membership, not the willful pursuit of gay sex.2015, Jane Ward, Not Gay, New York University Press, →ISBN, page 139:
Exactly like you, Philip, to come strolling in from the antipodes—dear fellow!" recovering from the fraternal embrace and holding both lapels of his coat in her gloved hands.1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter I, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

All 23 example sentences with fraternal

Synonyms of fraternal

brotherly

Forms of fraternal

Adjective
comparative	more fraternal
superlative	most fraternal
alternative form	fraternall
Noun
plural	fraternals

Origin of fraternal

PIE word *bʰréh₂tēr Borrowed from Middle French fraternel, from Medieval Latin frāternālis (“fraternal”), from Latin frāternus (“of or pertaining to a brother, fraternal”), from frāter (“brother”).

Words formed from fraternal

Phrases with fraternal

Words that rhyme with fraternal

40 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about fraternal

What does fraternal mean?: Fraternal means of or pertaining to a brother or brothers.
What is fraternal in Hindi?: Fraternal in Hindi is भ्रात्रीय (bhrātrīya). See Fraternal meaning in Hindi.
How do you use fraternal in a sentence?: Yet, in leaving, Judah removes himself not only from fraternal violence but from familial destiny as well.
What part of speech is fraternal?: Fraternal can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce fraternal?: Fraternal is pronounced /fɹəˈtɝnəl/ (US).

Words near fraternal in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: fraternal (page history and authors); fraternal (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); fraternal (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-fraternal.wav.

Cite this entry: “fraternal.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fraternal. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.