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Glite Dictionary
👭 A women's group ⛪ A group of nuns 👧 Sisters' bond
sisterhood

sisterhood

2 4.8
A group of women, often nuns, who live together for a religious life
  • noun
  • /ˈsɪstərˌhʊd/
translation icon : congregación (de monjas)
  • Emily Gehring had failed to report that on May 30 she had been expelled from the sisterhood for violating the vow of silence.
  • founded a sisterhood

Examples

  • The religious sisterhood devoted their lives to prayer and community service within their convent.

  • The sisterhood could sing only within these walls; all else would be vanity.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • The Doves Within the Sun were a religious sisterhood.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • The chairs were filled with women dressed in the white cotton trousers and tunic of the sisterhood.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • The powerful Bene Gesserit sisterhood for 90 generations... has been manipulating bloodlines... to produce the Kwisatz Haderach, a super being.

    Dune (1984)

  • The sisterhood of nuns organized charity events to help those in need in their local community.

  • Within the sisterhood, the women found support, guidance, and a shared commitment to their spiritual path.

Synonyms

convent
vssisterhood
64 5.6

A building where nuns live and pray together

focuses on the women as a society rather than the specific building
house
vssisterhood
46 6.9

A group of religious people living together in one community

specifies a society of women adding a female focus to the same group
nunnery
vssisterhood
12 8.1

A building where religious women live and work

is about a formal society of women rather than their workplace
sistership
vssisterhood
  • Archaic
8.3

A group of women who meet to support each other or share a common interest

is limited to women forming a religious community living together

How Religious

convent
64 5.6
sisterhood
2 4.8

Surface Forms

sisterhood singular
sisterhoods plural

Morphology

sisterhood = sister (transparent) = sister + hood

The sense referring specifically to a community of nuns is a direct application of 'sister' (nun) + the collective suffix '-hood'.

Etymology

Sisterhood comes from sister plus the ending -hood, meaning 'group' or 'state', similar to brotherhood. So when we talk about a religious sisterhood, we mean a group of women (nuns) who live and work together for their faith.