shibboleth |
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American Heritage Dictionary (4 definitions)
- A word or pronunciation that distinguishes people of one group or class from those of another.
- A word or phrase identified with a particular group or cause; a catchword.
- A commonplace saying or idea.
- A custom or practice that betrays one as an outsider.
–noun
Century Dictionary (1 definition)
- A Hebrew word, meaning ‘ear of corn’ or ‘stream,’ used by Jephthah, one of the judges of Israel, as a test-word by which to distinguish the fleeing Ephraimites (who could not pronounce the sh in shibboleth) from his own men, the Gileadites (Judges xii. 4–6); hence, a test-word, or the watchword or pet phrase of a party, sect, or school. Similarly, during the massacre of the Sicilian Vespers, the French be trayed their nationality by inability to pronounce correctly the Italian word ciceri.
–noun
Wiktionary (2 definitions)
GNU Webster's 1913 (3 definitions)
WordNet (2 definitions)
Elsewhere on the web
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In the religion of Shibbolethism, which I have just founded, a shibboleth is any infringement, whether obnoxious or insignificant, of any criterion from among numerous and shifting criteria, distinguishing things that are acceptable from things that are beyond the pale.
By extension, a shibboleth is an often-repeated slogan.
This shibboleth is the logical result of the attitude mentioned.
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Pronunciations
/(shĭbˈə-lĭth, -lĕthˌ)/
ahd pronounces "shibboleth"
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Etymology
American Heritage Dictionary (1)
-
Ultimately from Hebrew šibbōlet, torrent of water, from the use of this word to distinguish one tribe from another that pronounced it sibbōlet (Judges 12:4-6).
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Shibboleth has been looked up 1,212 times, favorited 4 times, listed 116 times, commented on 16 times, and has a Scrabble score of 20.