brotherhood
Plural: brotherhoods
Noun
- the kinship relation between a male offspring and the siblings
- people engaged in a particular occupation
- the feeling that men should treat one another like brothers
- an organization of employees formed to bargain with the employer
- The state of being brothers or a brother (also figuratively).
- An association of people for any purpose, such as a society of monks; a fraternity.
- All the people engaged in the same business, especially those of the same profession
- People, or (poetically) things, of the same kind.
Examples
- brotherdom
- James formed a kind of brotherhood for ex-pats who were working in Valencia.
- the legal brotherhood
- the medical brotherhood
Origin / 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.
Synonyms
fraternity, labor union, sodality, trade union, trades union, union, association, brethren, brolationship, brotherhood, brotherness, brothership, confraternity, fellowship
Antonyms
irrelationship, non-fraternity
Scrabble Score: 20
brotherhood: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordbrotherhood: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
brotherhood: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary