brotherhood

English

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for brotherhood in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

Etymology

From Middle English brotherhod, equivalent to brother +‎ -hood, from earlier brotherhede, alteration (influenced by suffixes in -hood, -head) of Early Middle English brotherrede (“brotherhood, fraternity”), from Old English brōþorrǣden (“brotherhood, fellowship”), equivalent to brother +‎ -red (see brotherred). More at brother, -red.

Pronunciation

Noun

brotherhood (countable and uncountable, plural brotherhoods)

  1. The state of being brothers or a brother.
  2. An association for any purpose, such as a society of monks; a fraternity.
  3. The whole body of persons engaged in the same business, especially those of the same profession
    the legal brotherhood
    the medical brotherhood
  4. People, or (poetically) things, of the same kind.

Synonyms

Hypernyms

Translations
body of persons engaged in same business

See also

Further reading
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