Fraternization

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The establishment of friendly relations between individuals, often in a context that traditionally separates them by status or rank
2. The act of building amicable or social connections, typically between people who are expected to remain separate by social rules
3. Engaging in friendly interaction or companionship that crosses normally maintained boundaries of rank or group affiliation

Etymology: "Fraternization" comes into English from French "fraternisation," and the French word is built on the Latin "frater," meaning "brother." The idea behind it is a brotherhood that treats outsiders as kin. Its sense of social mixing across lines that rules would normally keep apart grows naturally from that root, since the word describes people behaving as brothers when they were supposed to stay separate. The most striking part of the story is how the sense has been stretched. Originally the word named a friendly bond between people, but in wartime it came to mean soldiers from opposing armies mingling and socializing, a meaning that often carried suspicion of disloyalty. The word still carries that charge today, which is why it often appears in discussions of military and workplace conduct.

Synonyms: association, companionship, fellowship

Antonyms: alienation, isolation