Camaraderie is a fascinating word with a rich and meaningful history. This is camaraderie’s meaning and how to use this word today!
-
Kevin
-
March 24, 2022
-
Common Questions
Your writing, at its best
Compose bold, clear, mistake-free, writing with Grammarly's AI-powered writing assistant
Close friends and loyalty make life worth living for many people. Having companionship makes the more challenging parts of life easier to navigate and the best aspects of life even better. When you’re going through a dark season of life, having close people by your side can help you to get through it successfully and with hope.
That’s the whole idea of camaraderie — life should never be lived alone. While this is commonly seen among athletes and teammates, it can also be found in virtually every arena of life.
Since camaraderie has such a comprehensive definition, it can sometimes be hard to nail down precisely what the word means. That’s why The Word Counter is here to help answer those questions and bring some light to the subject. This is what camaraderie means, where the word comes from, and how to use it within the proper contexts.
What Does Camaraderie Mean?
One of the most widely understood definitions of camaraderie (ˌkæməˈrɑːdərɪ, cama-rad-erie) is a noun that describes that particular kind of friendship, loyalty, and trust between people who have spent lots of time together. Great camaraderie results from hours, days, months, and even years spent with each other, doing things together, and living lives together.
Often, the deepest friendships are formed by going through difficult things together. It can be tough to deal with the reality of complex situations, but when you can go through it with someone who cares about you, it makes life much easier. Often, out of adversity comes unity, and camaraderie is an excellent example of that.
Athletes and soldiers who have to deal with opposition often develop very close and trusting relationships with the people around them. This is the basis of the feeling of camaraderie — a mutual understanding of life and difficulty at large.
Sharing difficult experiences with someone develops loyalty and trust that few other things do. That’s why sports and other physical activities often influence the creation of such powerful and meaningful friendships and relationships between people.
Where Does the Word Camaraderie Come From?
The word camaraderie originates from the French word camarade, which translates to the English word comrade. A comrade is someone you trust deeply and have gone through many experiences with, so this translation and synonym make a lot of sense. A lot of the spelling has remained the same, which displays the overall direct transposition of the word from French into English.
This word was initially introduced around the mid 19th century. For a long time, the term was actually spelled in two different ways — camaraderie and comradery. While comradery tends to phonetically make more sense, it has since been rejected as the proper spelling. This is because the word came from the French camarade, and the spelling was intended to remain pretty similar to the original word in its native language.
Where Is the Word Camaraderie Used?
Many examples of camaraderie in use are in the contexts of challenging situations. The word comrade itself has a militaristic connotation and has been found in many political and governmental contexts over the years.
Over time, this kind of relationship has found its way into sports and other types of team events. That’s why so many organizations and businesses put their employees through team bonding to build their relationships — camaraderie is built in adverse situations, even manufactured ones like puzzle games. Especially amongst highly competitive people, giving a group a mutual goal tter can make sure that they get close very quickly.
Even if there isn’t any kind of friendship between two people, the joint aspiration to meet an objective can often build and foster relationships. For example, when many people are running a marathon together, they will likely be incredibly friendly and supportive of each other, even though they don’t know each other. They all want to reach that final goal, which leads them to be incredibly supportive of each other through it all. That’s camaraderie!
Example Sentences Using the Word Camaraderie
Here are some examples of the word camaraderie in real-world conversations and sentences. One of the best ways to learn how to use words is by seeing them in use, so check out these sentences, and then try out using the word in your own contexts!
- Due to the difficulty of the quizzes, all the students developed lots of camaraderie in the study room.
- Me and my roommate built up a lot of camaraderie as we battled to get out of our terrible apartment.
- The two lawyers built up genuine camaraderie as they battled the corporation in the copyright case.
- There was a lot of genuine camaraderie amongst the members of the chamber pop band.
- The amount of camaraderie between the players on the basketball team was palpable throughout the room.
Conclusion
The better your communication skills are, the more likely you will succeed in your field, no matter what it is! Understanding complicated words in the English language can help you to become a more eloquent and educated speaker. If you can master the language you use, you’ll be able to communicate more clearly, which can help to propel you to greatness.
If you want to understand more confusing words in the English language, feel free to take a look around our blog here at The Word Counter!
We have countless articles on confusing words and common grammatical mistakes that can help to increase the quality and efficacy of your communication. The Word Counter is here to help you communicate in a way that will maximize your potential — take a look today!
Sources:
