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SISTERLY
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Like or characteristic of or befitting a sister
Example:
sororal concern
Synonyms:
sisterlike; sisterly; sororal
Classified under:
Antonym:
brotherly (like or characteristic of or befitting a brother)
Derivation:
sister (a female person who has the same parents as another person)
Context examples:
But we must stem the tide of malice, and pour into the wounded bosoms of each other the balm of sisterly consolation.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
Scarcely had he done regretting Mary Crawford, and observing to Fanny how impossible it was that he should ever meet with such another woman, before it began to strike him whether a very different kind of woman might not do just as well, or a great deal better: whether Fanny herself were not growing as dear, as important to him in all her smiles and all her ways, as Mary Crawford had ever been; and whether it might not be a possible, an hopeful undertaking to persuade her that her warm and sisterly regard for him would be foundation enough for wedded love.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
You think so now, rejoined St. John, because you do not know what it is to possess, nor consequently to enjoy wealth: you cannot form a notion of the importance twenty thousand pounds would give you; of the place it would enable you to take in society; of the prospects it would open to you: you cannot—"And you," I interrupted, cannot at all imagine the craving I have for fraternal and sisterly love.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
I like to have you tell me my faults and be sisterly, so don't mind if I am grumpy sometimes.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
In her placid sisterly manner; with her beaming eyes; with her tender voice; and with that sweet composure, which had long ago made the house that held her quite a sacred place to me; she soon won me from this weakness, and led me on to tell all that had happened since our last meeting.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
Miss Bennet's astonishment was soon lessened by the strong sisterly partiality which made any admiration of Elizabeth appear perfectly natural; and all surprise was shortly lost in other feelings.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
Jane, I excuse you for the present: two months' grace I allow you for the full enjoyment of your new position, and for pleasing yourself with this late-found charm of relationship; but then, I hope you will begin to look beyond Moor House and Morton, and sisterly society, and the selfish calm and sensual comfort of civilised affluence.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
And burning to lay herself upon the shrine of sisterly devotion, she sat down to settle that point.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
She commended me to God, who had taken my innocent darling to His rest; and in her sisterly affection cherished me always, and was always at my side go where I would; proud of what I had done, but infinitely prouder yet of what I was reserved to do.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
Meg laughed, for she was glad to see a glimmer of Jo's old spirit, but she felt it her duty to enforce her opinion by every argument in her power, and the sisterly chats were not wasted, especially as two of Meg's most effective arguments were the babies, whom Jo loved tenderly.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
