Definitions

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

  • noun A native or inhabitant of the ancient Northern Kingdom of Israel.
  • noun A descendant of Jacob; a Jew.
  • noun A member of a people regarded as the chosen people of God.
  • noun A Jew not descended from the tribe of Levi and not a priest.
  • adjective Of or relating to ancient Israel, the ancient Israelites, or their culture.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A descendant of Israel or Jacob; one of “the children of Israel”; a Hebrew; a Jew.

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

  • noun A descendant of Israel, or Jacob; a Hebrew; a Jew.

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

  • proper noun A native or inhabitant of the (1) united nation of Israel (under the Judges, and then kings Saul, David and Solomon), or (2) the later northern kingdom centered in Samaria, distinct from kingdom of Judah centered in Jerusalem.
  • proper noun A member of the Twelve Tribes of Israel and a descendant of Jacob.
  • adjective Of or pertaining to the ancient nation(s) of Israel, their inhabitants, or to the descendants of the patriarch Jacob.

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

  • noun a native or inhabitant of the ancient kingdom of Israel
  • noun a person belonging to the worldwide group claiming descent from Jacob (or converted to it) and connected by cultural or religious ties

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • (Genesis 10: 24) The term Israelite was used by the Jews of themselves among themselves; the term Hebrew was the name by which they were known to foreigners.

    Smith's Bible Dictionary 1884

  • How anyone can view this as anything other than unconscionable malice is beyond me, but regardless of my opinion on the matter, god could just as easily have decreed that women are intellectual equals to men, and that they should be afforded the same rights as men in Israelite society.

    Harlan Ellison on God 2009

  • Modern Judaism seems to descend from one of the main Israelite sects operating at the time, the Pharisees.

    Matthew Yglesias » A Back and Forth on Israel 2009

  • And archaeology surprisingly reveals that the people who lived in those villages were indigenous inhabitants of Canaan who only gradually developed an ethnic identity that could be termed Israelite.

    The Bible Unearthed Israel Finkelstein 2001

  • And archaeology surprisingly reveals that the people who lived in those villages were indigenous inhabitants of Canaan who only gradually developed an ethnic identity that could be termed Israelite.

    The Bible Unearthed Israel Finkelstein 2001

  • And archaeology surprisingly reveals that the people who lived in those villages were indigenous inhabitants of Canaan who only gradually developed an ethnic identity that could be termed Israelite.

    The Bible Unearthed Israel Finkelstein 2001

  • And archaeology surprisingly reveals that the people who lived in those villages were indigenous inhabitants of Canaan who only gradually developed an ethnic identity that could be termed Israelite.

    The Bible Unearthed Israel Finkelstein 2001

  • The emphasis on the word Israelite excited my curiosity.

    Ben-Hur, a tale of the Christ 1901

  • The name Israelite and Israelites was derived from Jacob, whom the angel of the Lord called Israel.

    Life and Labors of Elder John Kline the Martyr Missionary Kline, John 1900

  • Certain Israelite money-lenders, who hated him because he would not wink at their sweating and extortions, saw in this an opportunity to overthrow him; so they reported to some leading Jews in England that he had tortured the boys, whom he had not, in point of fact, punished in any way beyond reproving them.

    The Romance of Isabel, Lady Burton William Henry Burton Wilkins 1897

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