Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

ten commandments

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.39 in modern English

Syllables: ten -com-mand-ments
IPA

24

Scrabble Score

15

Letters

4

Syllables

9

Unique Chars

Meaning

name

A particular list of religious and moral imperatives which, according to the Old Testament of the Bible or the Hebrew Bible, were twice given or dictated by God to Moses on Mount Sinai and inscribed on two stone tablets.

name

A list of principal rules in a given field.

name

The ten fingernails, used by women when fighting.

Dated; Slang

Example Sentences

"A federal judge has temporarily blocked a Louisiana law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every public school classroom by the new year."
"These may well be the ten commandments of interpretation."
"[…] he adds that they were very silly in doing so in the face of the devastating fact that people have made up ten commandments of business, ten commandments of educators, ten commandments of lovers, and ten commandments of many other human activities."
"I possess the ten commandments of the hip-hop thugsta"
"She'd drink the gin fust and give him her ten commandments artervards, when she'd aggerawated him to try it on."
"[…] once or twice, when he cut up bad, she appeared to him, and scratched his face with her ten commandments […]"

Etymology

Calque of Biblical Hebrew עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים ('aséret had'varím, “the ten items”), from Exodus 34:28, Deuteronomy 4:13 and Deuteronomy 10:4.

Usage

Dated
Slang

Subject

Wiktionary places this term in Religion.

Inflected Forms

the Ten Commandments (canonical, plural)

Phrases

11th commandment ethical Ten Commandments ritual Ten Commandments Nine Commandments mortal sin

Frequently Paired Words

Nine Commandments mortal sin Five Pillars

Synonyms

Decalogue testimony

Questions

What does ten commandments mean?: A particular list of religious and moral imperatives which, according to the Old Testament of the Bible or the Hebrew Bible, were twice given or dictated by God to Moses on Mount Sinai and inscribed on two stone tablets.
Where does ten commandments come from?: Calque of Biblical Hebrew עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים ('aséret had'varím, “the ten items”), from Exodus 34:28, Deuteronomy 4:13 and Deuteronomy 10:4.

How to pronounce ten commandments

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