Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com

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:

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

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Dictionary.com's Learning Companion

Go beyond just looking up words.
Remember them forever with VocabTrainer.

Start training