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• cantor
  cantor

  noun

  the religious official of a synagogue who conducts the liturgical portion of a service and sings or chants the prayers and parts of prayers designed to be performed as solos.
• Cantor
  Cantor

  noun

  Eddie Edward Israel Iskovitz, 1892–1964, U.S. singer and entertainer.

cantor

¹ American  

[kan-ter, -tawr] / ˈkæn tər, -tɔr /

noun

1. the religious official of a synagogue who conducts the liturgical portion of a service and sings or chants the prayers and parts of prayers designed to be performed as solos.

2. an official whose duty is to lead the singing in a cathedral or in a collegiate or parish church; a precentor.

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Cantor ² American  

[kan-ter, kahn-tawr] / ˈkæn tər, ˈkɑn tɔr /

noun

1. Eddie Edward Israel Iskovitz, 1892–1964, U.S. singer and entertainer.

2. Georg 1845–1918, German mathematician, born in Russia.

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cantor British  

/ ˈkæntɔː /

noun

1. Also called: chazan. Judaism a man employed to lead synagogue services, esp to traditional modes and melodies

2. Christianity the leader of the singing in a church choir

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Etymology

Origin of cantor

1530–40; < Latin: singer, equivalent to can ( ere ) to sing + -tor -tor

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cantor Cantor

They were also performed for the first time in 320 years at the St Thomas Church in Leipzig, where Bach is buried and served as a cantor for 27 years.

From Barron's ● Nov. 17, 2025

Laurence Harris and his wife Ruth, the longtime cantor, raced to Pasadena Jewish Temple & Center as embers started to rain down , attempting to rescue what they could.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 18, 2025

In Grades IV and V, they perform tests at a walk, trot, cantor and do lateral work.

From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2024

Douglas Purcell, the cantor at St. Ignatius Loyola, said in an interview after the service that the lack of mention of the former president seemed to be in accordance with Barry’s wishes.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 17, 2023

Then the cantor and Danny’s father stood over him and blessed him.

From "The Wednesday Wars" by Gary D. Schmidt

"There may have been concerns that he may not have been able to recreate the impact of his first period at the Amex but that has been dispelled already," added Cantor.

From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026

Cantor Fitzgerald’s Muse is modeling for Micron to generate about $150 billion in free cash flow next year, and about $182 billion in 2028.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 5, 2026

He started an investment firm that managed $1.5 billion in assets and was sold to Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors in 2017.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026

Ms. Koster is a senior attorney at Cantor Fitzgerald and general counsel of the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026

It would be little comfort to Cantor that his work was the foundation of a whole new branch of mathematics: set theory.

From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife

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