adj

fraternal

fruh-TNUHL

adj

Relating to brothers, or having a warm, brotherly closeness.

"The two colleagues developed a fraternal bond over the years."

"The union expressed fraternal solidarity with striking workers abroad."

Describing twins who developed from two separate eggs and are genetically no more alike than ordinary siblings.

"Fraternal twins can be different sexes, unlike identical twins."

How to Use Fraternal

Learner’s notes

In plain EnglishBrotherly, or (for twins) genetically distinct rather than identical.

Common mistake

Fraternal twins are not identical — they share about as much DNA as regular siblings, just born at the same time.

Easily confused with

paternal → maternal →

Common pairings

fraternal twins fraternal bond fraternal organization

more fraternal comparative, fraternals plural, most fraternal superlative

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Can you complete this real example?

The two colleagues developed a _____ bond over the years.

From Latin fraternus, "of a brother," from frater, "brother."

brotherly

kindly brotherly

eternal internal paternal maternal external infernal

brotherly kindly