What does fraternal mean?
Word: Fraternal
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Fraternal means like or relating to brothers; friendly in the way brothers are. Fraternal twins grow from two separate eggs.
Synonyms: brotherly, friendly, comradely
Antonyms: unfriendly
How do you spell fraternal?
Syllables: fra - ter - nal
Tricky part: The ending is nal, not nel, so fraternel is a common slip.
Watch out for: fraternel, fraturnal, fraternul
Memory tip: A fraternal friend is a brotherly pal, and like pal the word ends in al.
Fraternal in a sentence
Example 1: The two cricket clubs have a fraternal bond that goes back fifty years.
Example 2: Raj and Rohan are fraternal twins, born ten minutes apart.
Example 3: The prime minister sent fraternal greetings to the people of Nepal.
Fun Fact
Fraternal comes from the Latin word for brother, and that Latin word and English brother grew from the same very old root. The same root also gave Sanskrit bhratr.
Practise the CREST Way
Spell-o-Spell
Three of these words are spelt correctly and one is misspelt. Choose the meaning of the misspelt word:
1. sibling 2. fraternal 3. ancestor 4. heritege
a) a family member who lived long before you
b) a brother or sister
c) the traditions and history passed down to you
d) having to do with brothers or brotherly feeling
Show answer
c) the traditions and history passed down to you. Heritage ends in age, as in village, so heritege is wrong.
Word Connection
Choose the antonym of the word fraternal as used in the sentence:
The visiting team was given a fraternal welcome at the airport by the home side's captain.
a) hostile
b) formal
c) hurried
d) grand
Show answer
a) hostile. A fraternal welcome is warm, like one between brothers; hostile means the opposite.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the word in the sentence and choose it:
The two villages kept up their tranefalr ties even after the river changed its course.
a) fraternal
b) fractional
c) fraternity
d) parental
Show answer
a) fraternal. Fraternity needs an i and a y, fractional a c, an i and an o, and parental a p, so only fraternal fits.
Word Cookie
Fill in the missing letters to complete the word:
fr_t_rnal
a) e, e
b) a, i
c) a, e
d) o, e
Show answer
c) a, e. The start sounds like the fra of fragrant, and the middle is ter.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. A fraternal society is a group whose members ____.
a) stand by one another like family
b) are all related to one another
c) work only to earn more money
d) meet just once a year by chance
Show answer
a) stand by one another like family
2. Unlike identical twins, fraternal twins ____.
a) can be a boy and a girl
b) share exactly the same fingerprints
c) always look exactly alike
d) are always born on different days
Show answer
a) can be a boy and a girl
