Definitions for brethren

• Definition
• Anagrams (132)

brethren breth·ren

Spelling: [breth -rin]

IPA: /ˈbrɛð rɪn/

Brethren is a 8 letter English word. It's valid Scrabble word worth 13 points. It's valid Words with friends word worth 14 points.

You can make 132 anagrams from letters in brethren (beehnrrt).

Definitions for brethren

noun

1. a male offspring having both parents in common with another offspring; a male sibling.
2. Also called half brother. a male offspring having only one parent in common with another offspring.
3. a stepbrother.
4. a male numbered among the same kinship group, nationality, ethnicity, profession, etc., as another; an associate; a fellow member, fellow countryman, fellow man, etc.:
5. 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.
6. brothers, all members of a particular racial or ethnic group, or of the human race in general:
7. Slang. fellow; buddy:
8. Informal. a term used to refer to or address a fellow black man; soul brother.

plural noun

1. fellow members.
2. Archaic. brothers.

interjection

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

Origin of brethren

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 brátha

Examples for brethren

If John has not yet acted like his brethren, it is only because he is not yet old enough!

Inasmuch as you did it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, you did it unto me.

And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.

But when the school holds a ceremony honoring the soldiers who killed her Arab brethren, she suffers clear cognitive dissonance.

He is now sure to become a folk hero among his brethren on high steel.

Cursed be Canaan;
 A servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.

When our brethren departed, we could not tear our aged roots out of the soil.

Yet we have just seen that the Greeks of old were too self-contained for their Italian brethren.

They were sick-and so were the purest of their brethren—with the plague of sin.

It was an open secret, and one that discomfited several of his brethren.