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Ezra

American  
[ez-ruh] / ˈɛz rə /

noun

  1. a Jewish scribe and prophet of the 5th century b.c., who with Nehemiah led the revival of Judaism in Palestine.

  2. a book of the Bible bearing his name. Ezr.

  3. a male given name: from a Hebrew word meaning “help.”


Ezra British  
/ ˈɛzrə /

noun

  1. a Jewish priest of the 5th century bc , who was sent from Babylon by the Persian king Artaxerxes I to reconstitute observance of the Jewish law and worship in Jerusalem after the captivity

  2. the book recounting his efforts to perform this task

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of Ezra

From Late Latin Ezras, ulimately from Hebrew ʿezrā “help”

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

In fairness, Mr. Trump succeeded in pressing China to free a jailed Christian pastor, Ezra Jin, whose children are U.S. citizens.

From The Wall Street Journal Jul. 20, 2026

During Pinky’s broken-wing pit stop, my 10-year-old daughter Margaret Green and friends Ezra Cunningham and Meta Nalepa encountered the bird in a nearby driveway while delivering their neighborhood newspaper.

From Los Angeles Times Jun. 29, 2026

Function also acquired Ezra, a maker of diagnostic scans, last year.

From Barron's May 21, 2026

These included the Colombian-American anti-Islam influencer Valentina Gomez, while Polish MEP Dominik Tarczynski and Ezra Levant, a longtime Canadian supporter of Robinson, also said they had been blocked.

From BBC May 16, 2026

Ezra, who worked in the big house, said, ‘You don’t know where this Ohio is. How you going to get there?’

From "Life Is So Good" by George Dawson

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