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fraternal love

fraternal

Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of or relating to brothers.
  • adjective Showing comradeship; brotherly.
  • adjective Of or constituting a fraternity.
  • adjective Roman Catholic Church Of or constituting a mendicant order such as the Dominicans or Franciscans.
  • adjective Biology Of, relating to, or being a twin developed from two separately fertilized ova; dizygotic.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Brotherly; pertaining to brethren; proceeding from or becoming to brothers: as, fraternal interest; a fraternal embrace.
  • Synonyms Brotherly, Fraternal. See brotherly.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Of, pertaining to, or involving, brethren; becoming to brothers; brotherly

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Of brothers (fraternal twins).
  • adjective Related through a brother (fraternal nephew).
  • adjective In need of a brother or sister or friend.
  • adjective Like brothers (fraternal cousins).
  • adjective Brotherly, befitting or of a brother or brothers.
  • adjective Friendly or brotherly (e.g. fraternal relations between socialist parties in different countries).
  • adjective Being or of a society of men linked in brotherly union (fraternal society).
  • adjective platonic (as fraternal love - brotherly love).

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective like or characteristic of or befitting a brother
  • adjective of or relating to a fraternity or society of usually men
  • adjective (of twins) derived from two separate fertilized ova

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French fraternel, from Medieval Latin frāternālis, from Latin frāternus, from frāter, brother; see bhrāter- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle French fraternel, from Medieval Latin frāternālis ("fraternal"), from Latin frāternus ("of or pertaining to a brother, fraternal"), from frāter ("brother").

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Examples

  • The crux of that concept was, Churchill said, what he called the fraternal association of the English-speaking peoples.

    That special relationship Richard 2005

  • I gave birth vaginally to full-term fraternal twins weighing seven pounds, two ounces and seven pounds, eight.

    Our Bodies, Ourselves: Pregnancy and Birth THE BOSTON WOMEN’S HEALTH BOOK COLLECTIVE 2008

  • I gave birth vaginally to full-term fraternal twins weighing seven pounds, two ounces and seven pounds, eight.

    Our Bodies, Ourselves: Pregnancy and Birth THE BOSTON WOMEN’S HEALTH BOOK COLLECTIVE 2008

  • His grandfather Peter was active in Polish fraternal organizations and made a name in Democratic politics, serving as a delegate to the 1912 party convention in Baltimore.

    chicagotribune.com - 2010

  • The personal relations between Rousseau and Millet were in the best sense of the word fraternal, and from neither did I ever hear a word to the disparagement of a brother artist, while Rousseau used to talk in the subtlest vein of critical appreciation of his rivals among the landscape painters, the Dupres, Ziem, Troyon, and others, so that I regret that in those days I thought only of my own instruction, and not of the putting on record the opinions of a man whose ideas of art were amongst the most exalted I have known.

    The Autobiography of a Journalist Stillman, William James, 1828-1901 1901

  • The personal relations between Rousseau and Millet were in the best sense of the word fraternal, and from neither did I ever hear a word to the disparagement of a brother artist, while Rousseau used to talk in the subtlest vein of critical appreciation of his rivals among the landscape painters, the Duprés, Ziem, Troyon, and others, so that I regret that in those days I thought only of my own instruction, and not of the putting on record the opinions of a man whose ideas of art were amongst the most exalted I have known.

    The Autobiography of a Journalist, Volume I William James Stillman 1864

  • We went through a long journey to conceive and carry to full term our fraternal twin boys, Dominic and Zachary.

    Chicken Soup for the Soul: Twins and More Jack Canfield 2009

  • We went through a long journey to conceive and carry to full term our fraternal twin boys, Dominic and Zachary.

    Chicken Soup for the Soul: Twins and More Jack Canfield 2009

  • Anthony F. Bogaert of Brock University in Ontario had already documented that boys who have several older brothers are more likely than others to grow up gay -- a phenomenon known as the fraternal birth order effect.

    June 2006 2006

  • Barras, at that time President of the Directory, replied to Bonaparte with so much prolixity as to weary everyone; and as soon as he had finished speaking he threw himself into the arms of the General, who was not much pleased with such affected displays, and gave him what was then called the fraternal embrace.

    Complete Project Gutenberg Collection of Memoirs of Napoleon Various

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