Ezra
Americannoun
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a Jewish scribe and prophet of the 5th century b.c., who with Nehemiah led the revival of Judaism in Palestine.
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a book of the Bible bearing his name. Ezr.
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a male given name: from a Hebrew word meaning “help.”
noun
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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
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the book recounting his efforts to perform this task
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.
Function also acquired Ezra, a maker of diagnostic scans, last year.
From Barron's ● May 21, 2026
Pastor Ezra Jin was just finishing dinner with his elderly mother-in-law in the Chinese city of Beihai last October when more than a dozen police appeared at the door.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 19, 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 Klein, the center-left New York Times columnist who is not particularly close to Piker’s politics, defended him against the antisemitism charges.
From Salon ● May 2, 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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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.