Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A member of a priestly, aristocratic Jewish sect founded in the second century BC that accepted only the written Mosaic law and that ceased to exist after the destruction of the Temple in AD 70.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An adherent of a skeptical school of Judaism in the time of Christ, which denied the immortality of the soul, the existence of angels, and the authority of the historical and poetical books of the Old Testament and of the oral tradition on which Pharisaic doctrine was largely founded.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One of a sect among the ancient Jews, who denied the resurrection, a future state, and the existence of angels.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun A member of an ancient Jewish sect possibly formed as a political party in the 2nd century BCE and existed until around the 1st century CE.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a member of an ancient Jewish sect around the time of Jesus; opposed to the Pharisees

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English Saducee, from Old English Sadducēas, Sadducees, from Late Latin Sadducaeī, from Greek Saddoukaioi, from Mishnaic Hebrew ṣədûqî, after ṣādôq, Zadok, high priest in the time of David and Solomon, from ṣādôq, just, righteous, from ṣādaq, to be just; see ṣdq in Semitic roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Possibly, from Hebrew צדוקי (ts'dokí, "Sadducee"), whence also Zadokites or other variants.

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