fraternize

[ frat-er-nahyz ]
See synonyms for fraternize on Thesaurus.com
verb (used without object),frat·er·nized, frat·er·niz·ing.
  1. to associate socially or romantically with people considered inappropriate company, often due to a difference in status, as between managers and subordinates, or professors and students: Doctors fraternizing with interns is nothing new, but hospital management is considering stricter policies to discourage it.

  2. to associate cordially or intimately with the people of a conquered country, enemy troops, etc., especially in violation of orders or rules: Of the charges these officers are facing, the most serious is fraternizing with the enemy.

  1. to associate in a fraternal or friendly way.

verb (used with object),frat·er·nized, frat·er·niz·ing.
  1. Archaic. to bring into fraternal association or sympathy.

Origin of fraternize

1
First recorded in 1605–15; from French fraterniser, from Medieval Latin frāternizāre; see fraternal, -ize
  • Also especially British, frat·er·nise .

Other words for fraternize

Other words from fraternize

  • frat·er·ni·za·tion [frat-er-nahy-zey-shuhn], /ˌfræt ərˌnaɪˈzeɪ ʃən/, noun
  • frat·er·niz·er, noun
  • un·frat·er·nized, adjective
  • un·frat·er·niz·ing, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use fraternize in a sentence

  • But on the frontier of Buenos Aires this army joined the popular movement, and fraternised with the barbaric hordes of Artigas.

    Ponce de Leon | William Pilling
  • I sat closeted in my room with two friends, Frémy and Edwards, whom I introduced and who quickly fraternised.

    The Sign of Silence | William Le Queux
  • They grew up quite as tame as our own dogs, with whom they fraternised as if they had been of the same species.

    The Desert Home | Mayne Reid
  • Our paddlers indeed fraternised with the enemy, against whom they would have been fighting if they had not been employed by us.

  • Black looks and savage growls fraternised in the cause against the common enemy.

    Grif | B. L. (Benjamin Leopold) Farjeon

British Dictionary definitions for fraternize

fraternize

fraternise

/ (ˈfrætəˌnaɪz) /


verb
  1. (intr often foll by with) to associate on friendly terms

Derived forms of fraternize

  • fraternization or fraternisation, noun
  • fraternizer or fraterniser, noun

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