• (RP) IPA: /ˈbɹʌðə/
• (America) IPA: /ˈbɹʌðɚ/
• (Australia, New Zealand) IPA: /ˈbɹɐðə/
• (Northern England) IPA: /ˈbɹʊðə/,
• (Ireland) IPA: /ˈbɹʊðəɹ/,
• (Scotland, Northern Ireland) IPA: /ˈbɹʌðəɹ/,
• (th-fronting) IPA: /ˈbɹʌvə(ɹ)/

brother (plural brothers)

1. Son of the same parents as another person.
   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter X, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC ↗:

     It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room. Listening here was as pleasant as talking; just to watch was pleasant. The young priests who lived here wore cassocks and birettas; their faces were fine and mild, yet really strong, like the rector's face; and in their intercourse with him and his wife they seemed to be brothers.

2. A male having at least one parent in common with another (see half-brother, stepbrother).
3. A male fellow member of a religious community, church, trades union etc.
   • 1975, New King James Version, Deuteronomy 23:19

     You shall not charge interest to your brother—interest on money or food or anything that is lent out at interest.

   Thank you, brother.
   I would like to thank the brother who just spoke.
4. (informal) A form of address to a man.

   Brother, can you spare a dime?

   Listen, brother, I don't know what you want, but I’m not interested.

5. (AAVE) A fellow black man.
   • 2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 148 ↗:

     The white cop grilled me. He was tall, but had a stomach like a pregnant woman. The other two were brothers, and they looked like they just didn't wanna be standing there.

6. Somebody, usually male, connected by a common cause, situation, or affection.
   • 1963, Martin Luther King Jr., (Please provide the book title or journal name):

     The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny.

7. Someone who is a peer, whether male or female.
   • 1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, published May 1962, →OCLC ↗:

     And, above all, no animal must ever tyrannise over his own kind. Weak or strong, clever or simple, we are all brothers.

8. (poetic) Someone who is a kinsman or shares the same patriarch.

• friar
• fraternal
• fraternity

see brother/translations

brother (brothers, present participle brothering; simple past and past participle brothered)

1. (transitive) To treat as a brother.
   • 1819, Walter Scott, Ivanhoe:

     Seest thou not we are overreached, and that our proposed mode of communicating with our friends without has been disconcerted by this same motley gentleman thou art so fond to brother?

see brother/translations

1. Expressing exasperation.

   We're being forced to work overtime? Oh, brother!

brother (plural brothers)

1. Title of respect for an adult male member of a religious or fraternal order.

   At the monastery, Brother Stephen supervises the kitchen.

   Please welcome Brother Smith as he moves from his former congregation to his new congregation.

2. Title of respect for an adult male member of a fraternal/sororal organization, or comrade in a movement, or even a stranger using fictive kin.
3. A title used to personify or respectfully refer to concepts or animals.

   The Native American had a kinship with nature, even referring to Mother Earth and Brother Bear.

• Br.
• Bro.