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I'm looking for the adjective that goes with sibling. My sentence would be something like:

The [...] relationship.

So the adjective would be used to denote that the relationship is one between siblings. A native speaker told me it was simply sibling, however, I'm not convinced. I have tried googling for the answer, but it hasn't yielded any results as of yet.

Unfortunately, my Oxford dictionary is having a sleepover at one of my fellow students.

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It is, in fact, a sibling relationship. What makes you hesitant to accept this? What did you google for? I just did and found this: google.com/… – Jim Sep 3 '12 at 20:01
"Unfortunately, my Oxford dictionary is having a sleepover at one of my fellow students." Ahem. You don't need your Oxford dictionary to answer this question; if you can access ELU, you can access a dictionary. – J.R. Sep 3 '12 at 21:43
@J.R. Yes, but my dictionary has a list with all related words. Adjective is not found at your suggested website. – BloodPhilia Sep 4 '12 at 10:18
@BloodPhilia: Definition 1(b) (as modifier) ⇒ sibling rivalry. That gives you the meaning you seek. – J.R. Sep 4 '12 at 14:11

closed as general reference by MετάEd, J.R., FumbleFingers, tchrist, Mr. Shiny and New 安宇 Sep 4 '12 at 13:11

This question is too basic; it can be definitively and permanently answered by a single link to a standard internet reference source designed specifically to find that type of information. See the FAQ for guidance on how to improve it.

2 Answers

up vote 8 down vote accepted

Your native speaker is right about sibling relationship.

If you want to talk about the relationship between brothers, there's fraternal.

Conversely, sororal is used for sisters.

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Awesome, thanks! – BloodPhilia Sep 3 '12 at 20:08
There are some among us who would use "fraternal" in a gender-neutral way too. This is what stops it from being a perfect synonym of "brotherly". – user16269 Sep 4 '12 at 3:02
up vote 3 down vote

While it is broader (and can cover relationships outside of the same generation) the term consanguineal reflects common blood relationship

having the same ancestry or descent; related by blood.

It derives from the noun form, consanguinity, meaning

relating to or denoting people descended from the same ancestor:

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Thanks! Although your suggestions are not of the nature I need, very interesting! – BloodPhilia Sep 4 '12 at 10:16

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