Abraham
Americannoun
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the first of the great Biblical patriarchs, father of Isaac, and traditional founder of the ancient Hebrew nation: considered by Muslims an ancestor of the Arab peoples through his son Ishmael.
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a first name: from a Hebrew word meaning “father of many.”
noun
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Old Testament the first of the patriarchs, the father of Isaac and the founder of the Hebrew people (Genesis 11–25)
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the place where the just repose after death (Luke 16:22)
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of Abraham
First recorded before 1000; from Late Latin, from Greek Abraám, from Hebrew ʾabhrāhām, traditionally translated as “father of many nations, father of multitudes,” equivalent to ʾabh “father” + hamon “multitude,” or a variant of ʾabhram “high father, exalted father,” equivalent to ʾabh “father” + ram “high, exalted”
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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.
Debating in 1858 to represent Illinois in the Senate, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas continuously returned to the question of whether the declaration’s protections were exclusively meant for white people.
From Slate ● Jul. 24, 2026
Tammy Abraham is however happy at Villa Park and not looking to leave.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
“It would be superfluous in me,” Abraham Lincoln’s emissary Charles Francis Adams wrote to the British foreign secretary, “to point out to your lordship that this is war.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026
His own hands were used as the model for those of the Abraham Lincoln Audio-Animatronics figure in “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln,” which opened at Disneyland in 1965.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 12, 2026
Although, in a weird ironic twist, Abraham Lincoln would sign the document that would create the Secret Service right before he left for the theater tonight.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
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.
