Meanings
- uncountableA kindly and lenient attitude towards others.
Do not despair. To be friendless is indeed to be unfortunate; but the hearts of men, when unprejudiced by any obvious self-interest, are full of brotherly love and charity.
1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], chapter VII, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume II, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, published 1 January 1818, →OCLC, page 1151 more example
He always managed to have one or two slaves to whip on Monday morning, so as to start his hands to their work, under the inspiration of a new assurance on Monday, that his preaching about kindness, mercy, brotherly love, and the like, on Sunday, did not interfere with, or prevent him from establishing his authority, by the cowskin.
1855, Frederick Douglass, “New Relations and Duties”, in My Bondage and My Freedom. […], New York; Auburn, N.Y.: Miller, Orton & Mulligan […], →OCLC, part I (Life as a Slave), page 259Synonyms: agape
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA kindly and lenient attitude towards others.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna kindly and lenient attitude toward people
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Dutch broederliefde
- broederliefdekindly and lenient attitude towards others.
French amour fraternel
- amour fraternelkindly and lenient attitude towards others.
German Bruderliebe
- Bruderliebekindly and lenient attitude towards others.
Cite this entry
brotherly love. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/brotherly%20love
“brotherly love.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/brotherly%20love. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “brotherly love,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/brotherly%20love.
Source: brotherly love on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.