Confraternity definition

kŏnfrə-tûrnĭ-tē
confraternities
See word origin
Frequency:
A group of men (or, sometimes, men and women) associated for some purpose or in a profession; esp., a religious society, usually of laymen, with a devotional or charitable purpose.
noun
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An association of persons united in a common purpose or profession.
noun
2
1
Fraternal bond; brotherhood.
noun
1
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A group of people with a common interest.
noun
1
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A fraternity or brotherhood.
noun
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Other Word Forms

Noun

Singular:
confraternity
Plural:
confraternities

Origin of confraternity

  • Middle English confraternite from Old French from Medieval Latin cōnfrāternitās from cōnfrāter colleague confrere

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From Middle French confraternité

    From Wiktionary

Confraternity Sentence Examples

  • The church also contains a solid silver statue of the archangel Michael, belonging to the confraternity of Neapolitan fishermen.

  • Concurrently with the claim of Mahommed Ahmed to be the mandi the same title was claimed by, or for, the head of the Senussites, a confraternity powerful in many regions of North Africa.

  • When adjacent burial areas belonged to members of the same Christian confraternity, or by gift or purchase fell into the same hands, communications were opened between the respective cemeteries, which thus spread laterally, and gradually acquired that enormous extent which, " even when their fabulous dimensions are reduced to their right measure, form an immense work."' This could only be executed by a large and powerful Christian community unimpeded by legal enactments or police regulations, " a living witness of its immense development corresponding to the importance of the capital."

  • He had an interview with El Haddad, the sheikh of the Khuans, the religious confraternity of Sidi-Abd-er-Rahman, whose influence was great, and having secured his support in April 1871, Mokrani proclaimed the holy war.

  • On the walls of the chapel of the gild or confraternity of San Giovanni Battista are some valuable early frescoes, painted by Lorenzo and Giacomo Salimbene da San Severino in 1416.

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