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brother

[bruhth

-er or, for 9, bruhth

-ur]

Example Sentences Origin

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noun

a male offspring having both parents in common with another offspring; a male sibling.

Also called half brother. a male offspring having only one parent in common with another offspring.

a stepbrother.

a male numbered among the same kinship group, nationality, race, profession, etc., as another; an associate; a fellow member, fellow countryman, fellow man, etc.: a fraternity brother.

Ecclesiastical.

(often initial capital letter

) a male numbered among the lay members of a religious organization that has a priesthood.

a man who devotes himself to the duties of a religious order without taking holy orders, or while preparing for holy orders.

EXPAND

brothers, all members of a particular race, or of the human race in general: All men are brothers.

Slang. fellow; buddy: Brother, can you spare a dime?

Informal. a black man; soul brother.

COLLAPSE

interjection

Slang. (used to express disappointment, disgust, or surprise).

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Brother is always a great word to know.

So is callithumpian. Does it mean:

a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.

the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.

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Origin:
before 1000; Middle English; Old English brōthor; cognate with Dutch broeder, German Bruder, Old Norse brōthir, Gothic brothar, Sanskrit bhrātṛ, Greek phrā́tēr, Latin frāter, Old Irish bráthair, OCS bratrŭ

Related forms

broth·er·less, adjective

broth·er·like, adjective

Synonyms
1. Brothers, brethren are plurals of brother. Brothers are kinsmen, sons of the same parents: My mother lives with my brothers. Brethren, now archaic in the foregoing sense, is used of male members of a congregation or of a fraternal organization: The brethren will meet at the church.

Example Sentences

Putting a family back together when a stolen brother returns.

My brother was given money by both my mother and father without having to work for it.

By a huge margin, they say his brother would do a better job.

EXPAND

Putting a family back together when a stolen brother returns.

My brother was given money by both my mother and father without having to work for it.

By a huge margin, they say his brother would do a better job.

He shows him the film, and the old man confirms his own brother is in the footage.

As a child, my brother would frequently challenge me to a game he called punch-for-punch.

Mary and her brother took to fossil hunting for survival.

The boy who won't let his brother use the binoculars.

You'll have to use these abilities to hunt down the serial killer that may or may not have killed her brother.

Becoming a sister, nun or brother does confer any special powers or abilities to be superhuman.

With his mother, brother and sister, he built a fashion empire that catapulted him.

Russian forces hauled off her brother and held him at a grim makeshift jail for five months.

My dad introduced my brother and me to their antics and would often.

I've since copied the article to send to my brother to get his opinion.

Rose's brother to accompany the team without charge.

His brother recalled finding him in tears after one of many humiliations when his school fees were overdue.

The female escapes…but her brother doesn't see the danger coming.

Four years later, his brother came down with the same illness, and a few years later a young niece died.

One friend swears that his father on his deathbed puzzled over the fate of an older brother who was a professor of neurology.

She promises not to avenge the coup or to rush into pardoning and bringing home her brother.

Sharbat has never known a happy day, her brother says, except perhaps the day of her marriage.

My extraordinarily talented second brother lives downstairs.

Médioni´s life took a drastic turn when his brother purchased an old piano at the flea market and brought it home.

Relativity dictates that when he comes back, he is younger than his identical twin brother.

My brother once saw it envelop metal pipes outside his home.

Just when they have humanity nearly wiped out, a country preacher s brother takes one out with a baseball bat&.

My brother had the same problem and it turned out he had diabetes.

It's no longer acceptable in polite society to kill someone because they killed your brother.

The parents who gave their kids the gun that his brother used to commit suicide weren't evil so much as mind-numbingly obtuse.

My brother was diagnosed with a diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma.

His brother said that when he was a baby he was put in isolation for many months because of an illness.

COLLAPSE

Dictionary.com Unabridged

plural noun

fellow members.

Archaic. brothers.

Synonyms
1, 2. See brother.

Link To brother

Collins

World English Dictionary

brother (ˈbrʌðə)

—n , pl (archaic except when referring to fellow members of a religion, sect, society, etc) brothers, brethren
1.	a male person having the same parents as another person
2.	half-brother short for stepbrother
3.	a. a male person belonging to the same group, profession, nationality, trade union, etc, as another or others; fellow member
	b. (as modifier): brother workers
4.	comrade; friend: used as a form of address
5.	Christianity Related: fraternal
	a. a member of a male religious order who undertakes work for the order without actually being in holy orders
	b. a lay member of a male religious order

—*interj*
6.	slang an exclamation of amazement, disgust, surprise, disappointment, etc

Related: fraternal

[Old English brōthor; related to Old Norse brōthir, Old High German bruoder, Latin frāter, Greek phratēr, Sanskrit bhrātar]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

brother

O.E. broþor, from P.Gmc. *brothar (cf. O.N. broðir, Dan. broder, O.Fris. brother, Du. broeder, Ger. Bruder, Goth. bróþar), from PIE base *bhrater (cf. Skt. bhrátár-, O.Pers. brata, Gk. phratér, L. frater, O.Ir. brathir, Welsh brawd, Lith. broterelis, O.Prus.

EXPAND

brati, O.C.S. bratru, Czech brotr "brother"). As a familiar term of address from one man to another, it is attested from 1912 in U.S. slang; the specific use among blacks is recorded from 1973.

brethren

alternative plural of brother (q.v.); predominant c.1200-1600s, but surviving only in religious usage.

COLLAPSE

Slang Dictionary

(soul) brother definition

n.
a black person's male, black friend. : Another brother took a fall last night.

Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Easton

Bible Dictionary

Brother definition

(1.) In the natural and common sense (Matt. 1:2; Luke 3:1, 19). (2.) A near relation, a cousin (Gen. 13:8; 14:16; Matt. 12:46; John 7:3; Acts 1:14; Gal. 1:19). (3.) Simply a fellow-countryman (Matt. 5:47; Acts 3:22; Heb. 7:5). (4.) A disciple or follower (Matt. 25:40; Heb. 2:11, 12). (5.) One of the same faith (Amos 1:9; Acts 9:30; 11:29; 1 Cor. 5:11); whence the early disciples of our Lord were known to each other as brethren. (6.) A colleague in office (Ezra 3:2; 1 Cor. 1:1; 2 Cor. 1:1). (7.) A fellow-man (Gen. 9:5; 19:7; Matt. 5:22, 23, 24; 7:5; Heb. 2:17). (8.) One beloved or closely united with another in affection (2 Sam. 1:26; Acts 6:3; 1 Thess. 5:1). Brethren of Jesus (Matt. 1:25; 12:46, 50: Mark 3:31, 32; Gal. 1:19; 1 Cor. 9:5, etc.) were probably the younger children of Joseph and Mary. Some have supposed that they may have been the children of Joseph by a former marriage, and others that they were the children of Mary, the Virgin's sister, and wife of Cleophas. The first interpretation, however, is the most natural.

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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