An international fraternal organization with secret rituals and ceremonies, or more generally, any secret understanding or cooperation between people.
From 'freemason' + '-ry' (Old French -erie, indicating a practice or craft). The organization formalized in the early 1700s in England from medieval stonemasons' guilds.
The most powerful Freemasons were Enlightenment thinkers pushing for democracy and science, but fear of their secrecy led to wild conspiracy theories—kind of like how people today worry about tech billionaires having secret influence.
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