Meanings
- Of or characteristic of older brothers.
Coordinate term: big-sisterly
3 more examples
“I don’t blame you, boys, for sending Lorraine to Coventry”, he began, in a big-brotherly style.
1898, Green Garry, page 84And it came to me that Gouverneur Morris often wrote as a high-born American man of the world about forty, in a big-brotherly mood, might talk to a nice girl of sixteen. That was his style.
1923, The Century, page 29[...] a big-brotherly air of amusement [...]
1927, The Sea Gull, page 11Synonyms: big-brotherish
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveOf or characteristic of older brothers.
Origin
- Englishbig brother
- Proto-Indo-European*leyg-
- Proto-Germanic*līką
- Englishbig-brotherly
From big brother + -ly (adjectival suffix).
Full word history & related roots →Translations
French grand-fraternel
- grand-fraternelof or characteristic of older brothers
Cite this entry
big-brotherly. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/big-brotherly
“big-brotherly.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/big-brotherly. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “big-brotherly,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/big-brotherly.
Source: big-brotherly on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.