Get Friendly With the History of Camaraderie

Camaraderie made its first appearance in English in the middle of the 19th century. It comes from camarade, the French word whose Middle French ancestor was also the source for our word comrade. In Middle French, camarade was used to mean "roommate," "companion," or "a group sleeping in one room." It derived by way of Old Spanish from the Late Latin camera, or camara, meaning "chamber." We also have the word comradery, which means the same thing as camaraderie but did not take the same etymological route as its synonym. That word, formed by attaching the -ry suffix (as found in wizardry and citizenry) to comrade, didn't appear in English until almost 40 years after camaraderie.

Examples of camaraderie in a Sentence

It is about the camaraderie of troops bound for Vietnam who as their leader warns, have one another and nothing but one another when they fall into hell. — Stanley Kauffmann, New Republic, 25 Mar. 2002 … men on the sunny side of middle age, physical, competitive, used to the quick camaraderie of the team, be it a firefighting squad or a trading desk. — Robert Lipsyte, New York Times, 3 Feb. 2002 Except for occasional bursts of camaraderie, which came like thunderstorms, we were never close. — W. P. Kinsella, Shoeless Joe, 1982 The best of adolescence was the intense male friendships—not only because of the cozy feelings of camaraderie they afforded … but because of the opportunity they provided for uncensored talk. — Philip Roth, Reading Myself and Others, 1975 There is great camaraderie among the teammates. They have developed a real camaraderie after working together for so long.

Recent Examples on the Web The camaraderie between Black women at Refinery29 that Komonibo mentions is crucial to everyone, including myself. — Sydney Clarke, refinery29.com, "It’s Deeper Than The Bonnet: The Ever-Present Expectations Of Virtual Professionalism," 7 Jan. 2021 While the camaraderie Vucevic and Fournier have between them played a role in making that play work, Clifford said Vucevic’s ability to hit the 3-pointer helped create space. — Roy Parry, orlandosentinel.com, "Evan Fournier leads Magic to season-opening win over Heat," 23 Dec. 2020 Beyond the joy that the orchestra brings to Dallas audiences, a camaraderie builds when a music director works closely with musicians, practicing long hours and performing for a public. — Nicole Cormier, Dallas News, "The Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s new music director, Fabio Luisi, conducts a season like none other," 30 Sep. 2020 There is a complicated challenge, that will be solved by camaraderie and faith, not tough talk and photon torpedoes. — Peter Hartlaub, SFChronicle.com, "‘Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home’ is the best Christmas movie," 23 Dec. 2020 Then there’s the camaraderie, and the game itself: graceful, suspenseful, galvanizing and beautifully brutal. — Chris Vognar, Star Tribune, "Review: 'The Redshirt,' by Corey Sobel," 30 Oct. 2020 Christian Meza, of Pacific, Washington, relished his job as a bartender -- the camaraderie, the glamour, the small pleasures of making an eye-catching drink. — Paul Davidson, USA TODAY, "'I had to start my future': Workers who lost jobs because of COVID-19 find new careers in these fields," 22 Oct. 2020 The process—not just the result, a degree—offers access to opportunity, camaraderie, and even matrimony. — Ian Bogost, The Atlantic, "America Will Sacrifice Anything for the College Experience," 20 Oct. 2020 This survey measures levels of trust, camaraderie, collaboration, leadership effectiveness, innovation, organizational purpose, and many other apsects of company culture. — Lydia Belanger, Fortune, "How 2020 Best Small Workplace YNAB recruits and retains great people," 16 Oct. 2020

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'camaraderie.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.