fraternity: Meaning and Definition of

fra•ter•ni•ty

1. a local or national organization of male students, primarily for social purposes, usually with secret initiation and rites and a name composed of two or three Greek letters.
2. a group of persons associated by or as if by ties of brotherhood.
3. any group or class of persons having common purposes, interests, etc.: the medical fraternity.
4. an organization of laymen for religious or charitable purposes; sodality.
5. the quality of being brotherly; brotherhood: liberty, equality, and fraternity.
6. the relation of a brother or between brothers.