Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Of or relating to the Semites or their languages or cultures.
- adjective Of, relating to, or constituting a subgroup of the Afro-Asiatic language group that includes Arabic, Hebrew, Amharic, and Aramaic.
- noun The Semitic languages.
- noun Any of the Semitic languages.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Relating to the Semites, or the descendants of Shem; pertaining to the Hebrew race or any of those kindred to it, as the Arabians and the Assyrians. Also Shemitic, Shemitish.
- noun The Semitic languages collectively.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Of or pertaining to Shem or his descendants; belonging to that division of the Caucasian race which includes the Arabs, Jews, and related races.
- adjective a name used to designate a group of Asiatic and African languages, some living and some dead, namely: Hebrew and Phœnician, Aramaic, Assyrian, Arabic, Ethiopic (Geez and Ampharic).
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Of or pertaining to a subdivision of Afro-Asiatic Semitic languages:
Amharic ,Arabic ,Aramaic ,Syriac ,Akkadian ,Hebrew ,Maltese ,Tigrigna ,Phoenician etc. - adjective Of or pertaining to the
Semites : Semitic people. - adjective biblical Of or pertaining to the descendants of Shem, the eldest of three sons of Noah.
- adjective In a narrower sense, of or pertaining to the
Israeli ,Jewish , orHebrew people. - proper noun The Semitic languages in general.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a major branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family
- adjective of or relating to the group of Semitic languages
- adjective of or relating to or characteristic of Semites
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The term Semitic is applied to that family of languages which are native in Southwestern Asia, and which are supposed to have been spoken by the descendants of Shem, the son of Noah.
Handbook of Universal Literature From the Best and Latest Authorities Anne C. Lynch Botta 1853
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OF HUMAN GENETICS: There is a clear demonstration that about half of the males who have been sampled from the Lemba have a Y chromosome which is not of African origin but rather of what we call Semitic or Middle Eastern origin.
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According to Israeli journalist and former Knesset member Uri Avnery, "The term Semitic should be viewed as emphasizing an historical heritage ...
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We know firsthand from students that a school's failure to publicly identify and condemn an incident as anti-Semitic is almost as hurtful as the incident itself.
A 'breakthrough' in fighting anti-Semitism on campus Daniel de Vise 2010
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Anti-Semitic is more like it – just like Rev. Wright and I suspect if the truth be known (which it never will be) Obama isn't a fan of Jews.
Obama: U.S. not giving Israel green light to attack Iran 2009
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What's anti-Semitic is the tendency to single out Israel - and only Israel - for criticism in the conflict without mentioning the far more heinous acts of violence committed by the Palestinians who are inevitably portrayed by liberal apologists as completely innocent victims in the circumstances.
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It is often pointed out that antisemitism (or anti-Semitism), meaning "anti-Jewish," is a misnomer since the word Semitic, strictly speaking, refers to a number of peoples, including Jews and
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It is often pointed out that antisemitism (or anti-Semitism), meaning "anti-Jewish," is a misnomer since the word Semitic, strictly speaking, refers to a number of peoples, including Jews and
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The notion that the 2005 riots were primarily or even tri - or quad-marily anti-Semitic is purely invented.
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It is often pointed out that antisemitism (or anti-Semitism), meaning "anti-Jewish," is a misnomer since the word Semitic, strictly speaking, refers to a number of peoples, including Jews and
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