fellow

[fel-oh]

noun

1. a man or boy.

   a fine old fellow; a nice little fellow.

2. Informal.,  beau; suitor.

   Mary had her fellow over to meet her folks.

3. Informal.,  person; one.

   They don't treat a fellow very well here.

4. a person of small worth or no esteem.

5. a companion; comrade; associate.

   They have been fellows since childhood.

6. a person belonging to the same rank or class; equal; peer.

   The doctor conferred with his fellows.

7. one of a pair; mate; match.

   a shoe without its fellow.

8. Education.

   1. a graduate student of a university or college to whom an allowance is granted for special study.

   2. British.,  an incorporated member of a college, entitled to certain privileges.

   3. a member of the corporation or board of trustees of certain universities or colleges.

9. a member of any of certain learned societies.

   a fellow of the British Academy.

10. Obsolete.,  a partner.

verb (used with object)

1. to make or represent as equal with another.

2. Archaic.,  to produce a fellow to; match.

adjective

1. belonging to the same class or group; united by the same occupation, interests, etc.; being in the same condition.

   fellow students; fellow sufferers.

fellow

¹

/ ˈfɛləʊ /

noun

1. a man or boy

2. an informal word for boyfriend

3. informal,  one or oneself

   a fellow has to eat

4. a person considered to be of little importance or worth

5. 1. (often plural) a companion; comrade; associate

   2. ( as modifier )

      fellow travellers

6. (at Oxford and Cambridge universities) a member of the governing body of a college, who is usually a member of the teaching staff

7. a member of the governing body or established teaching staff at any of various universities or colleges

8. a postgraduate student employed, esp for a fixed period, to undertake research and, often, to do some teaching

9. 1. a person in the same group, class, or condition

      the surgeon asked his fellows

   2. ( as modifier )

      fellow students

      a fellow sufferer

10. one of a pair; counterpart; mate

    looking for the glove's fellow

Fellow

²

/ ˈfɛləʊ /

noun

1. a member of any of various learned societies

   Fellow of the British Academy

Word History and Origins

Origin of fellow¹

before 1050; Middle English felowe, felawe, late Old English fēolaga < Old Norse fēlagi partner in a joint undertaking, equivalent to fē money, property (cognate with Old English feoh, German Vieh ) + -lagi bedfellow, comrade; akin to lair ¹, lie ²

Word History and Origins

Origin of fellow¹

Old English fēolaga , from Old Norse fēlagi , one who lays down money, from fē money + lag a laying down

Idioms and Phrases

see regular guy (fellow); strange bedfellows.

Example Sentences

“Even his fellow human traffickers told him to knock it off, he was so sick in what he was doing and how he was treating small children,” Noem said in the unedited version of the interview she posted on X.

From Los Angeles Times

Perhaps that’s why, in addition to his health concerns, he simply refused on Thursday to be seen much in public — opting instead to limit himself to saying in a late dinner with fellow oligarchs that he’s unhappy with Putin.

From Salon

“There could be a regression to the mean in the short-term if Netanyahu is ousted. Because I think Netanyahu is a walking permission structure for Democrats to criticize Israel,” Andrew Miller, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress who focuses on national security and the Middle East, told Salon.

From Salon

It was at Unison she met Mark Rayner, a fellow union official whom she married in 2010 and divorced in 2023.

From BBC

As one gambling expert, Isaac Rose-Berman, a fellow at the American Institute for Boys and Men, put it: “Alcohol stores don’t give you a coupon for a free drink if you’ve taken a week off drinking. But they’re a modern technology company. They know everything about you: when you log in, what’ll induce you to gamble … It used to be man versus vice. Now it’s man versus vice combined with a billion-dollar tech company. That’s not a fair fight.”

From Slate

Related Words

• boy 
• chap 
• dude 
• guy 
• lad 
• man