Definition of "freemasonry" [free•ma•son•ry]

• The institutions, precepts, and rites of the Freemasons. (noun)
• Spontaneous fellowship and sympathy among a number of people. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "i think freemasonry is much more dangerous « Niqnaq"
• "The really bad party system is that in which a man is caught so tightly and becomes so deeply involved in party loyalty, or what may be called the freemasonry side of politics, that he grows into feeling a kind of moral obligation to stick to his party, right or wrong."
• "It was my initiation into what I have termed the freemasonry of the race."