Brotherhood

A close bond of loyalty, care, or shared purpose among people.

Reach for it when naming solidarity that feels family-like and is explicitly framed in masculine terms

Years of difficult rescues created a strong brotherhood among the crew.

• playful

  siblinghood

  a gender-inclusive family metaphor fits

  not when the audience expects a familiar established term

• everyday

  camaraderie

  easy trust develops through shared activity

  not when kin-like loyalty and obligation are stronger

• everyday

  community

  inclusive membership and shared life matter

  not when the relationship is a close subset rather than the whole group

• warm

  fellowship

  companionship grows from shared purpose

  not when specifically brother-like identity matters

• professional

  solidarity

  mutual support around common interests or struggle is central

  not when personal affection rather than collective commitment leads

• formal

  fraternity

  an organized male association is intended

  not when the bond is informal and open to everyone

• literary

  kinship

  deep affinity feels like family

  not when masculine group identity is part of the historical meaning

• alienation
• division
• hostility

• sense of brotherhood

  A sense of brotherhood grew without requiring everyone to agree.

• spirit of brotherhood

  The spirit of brotherhood was expressed through mutual care, not slogans.

• brotherhood among

  Shared danger built brotherhood among people who had arrived as strangers.

Brotherhood can exclude or misdescribe women and nonbinary people. Use solidarity, fellowship, community, or kinship unless a masculine or historically fraternal identity is genuinely relevant.

• Wiktionary, Noun sense 1: fraternal relationship ↗opens in a new tab · retrieved 2026-07-26

The definition and the example on this page are written here. The dictionaries above ground which meaning is being described, not the wording.