pharisee
/ˈfɛɹɪsi/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.27 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A member of an ancient Jewish political party, a social movement, and a school of thought among Jews that flourished during the Second Temple Era (536 B.C.E.–70 C.E.). The movement was ultimately the basis for most contemporary forms of Judaism.
Example Sentences
- "Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees."
- "I cannot tell. They [Jews]are always doing it. The Pharisees, for instance, say that there are angels, and the Sadducees declare that angels do not exist."
- "He was, and is yet most likely, the wearisomest self-righteous Pharisee that ever ransacked a Bible to rake the promises to himself and fling the curses to his neighbours."
- "The spider fattens himself on flies, and the Pharisee has his reward. Foolish persons are easily entrapped by the loud professions of pretenders, and even the more judicious cannot always escape."
- "The Pharisees of the bourgeoisie love the saying: de mortuis aut bene aut nihil (speak none ill of the dead). The proletariat needs the truth both about living politicians and about the dead for those who truly merit the name of politician do not die for politics when their physical demise comes."
Etymology
From Latin Pharisaeus, from Ancient Greek Φαρισαῖος (Pharisaîos), a transliteration of Aramaic פְּרִישַׁיָּא (pərîšayyâ’), emphatic plural of פְּרִישׁ (pərîš, “separatist”, literally “separated”), related to Hebrew פרוש (parush), qal passive participle of the verb פָּרַשׁ (pāraš), meaning one who is separated for a life of purity.
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
- Root: Pharisaeus, Φαρισαῖος, פְּרִישַׁיָּא
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈfɛɹɪsi/
- British English: /ˈfɛɹɪsiː/