Ishmael

American  

[ish-mee-uhl, -mey-] / ˈɪʃ mi əl, -meɪ- /

noun

1. (in the Bible) the son of Abraham and Hagar: both he and Hagar were cast out of Abraham's family by Sarah.

2. any outcast.

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Ishmael British  

/ ˈɪʃmeɪəl /

noun

1. the son of Abraham and Hagar, Sarah's handmaid: the ancestor of 12 Arabian tribes (Genesis 21:8–21; 25:12–18)

2. a bandit chieftain, who defied the Babylonian conquerors of Judah and assassinated the governor appointed by Nebuchadnezzar (II Kings 25:25; Jeremiah 40:13–41:18)

3. rare an outcast

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Etymology

Origin of Ishmael

From Hebrew Yishmāʿēl “God will hear”

Compare meaning

How does ishmael compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• Ishmael vs. Isaac

Example Sentences

It reenacts the Prophet Abraham's stoning of the devil at three places where Satan is said to have tried to dissuade him from obeying God's command to sacrifice his son Ishmael.

From Barron's • May 27, 2026

Think of James Fenimore Cooper’s Natty Bumppo and Chingachgook, Herman Melville’s Ishmael and Queequeg, Twain’s Huck and Jim—or even the black-and-white buddy pairings common to Hollywood action movies of the 1980s and after.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026

That product made a “big splash,” said Ishmael Asad, a research analyst at Bitwise, in an interview.

From MarketWatch • May 20, 2026

In her “Moby Dick” opera Olga Neuwirth made Ishmael a woman; Wilson, instead, makes Captain Ahab a woman.

From Los Angeles Times • May 11, 2026

The world was one world, and the notion that a man might kill another over some small patch of it did not make sense—though Ishmael knew that such things happened.

From "Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel" by David Guterson