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• Isis
  Isis

  noun

  a goddess of fertility, the sister and wife of Osiris and mother of Horus, and usually represented as a woman with a cow's horns with the solar disk between them: later worshiped in the Greek and Roman empires.
• ISIS
  ISIS

  noun

  Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (or Islamic State in Iraq and Syria): a radical Sunni Muslim organization whose aim is to restore an Islamic state, or caliphate, in the region encompassing Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, the Palestinian territories, and southeastern Turkey.

Isis

¹ American  

[ahy-sis] / ˈaɪ sɪs /

noun

Egyptian Religion.

1. a goddess of fertility, the sister and wife of Osiris and mother of Horus, and usually represented as a woman with a cow's horns with the solar disk between them: later worshiped in the Greek and Roman empires.

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ISIS ² American  

[ahy-sis] / ˈaɪ sɪs /

noun

1. Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (or Islamic State in Iraq and Syria): a radical Sunni Muslim organization whose aim is to restore an Islamic state, or caliphate, in the region encompassing Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, the Palestinian territories, and southeastern Turkey.

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Isis ¹ British  

/ ˈaɪsɪs /

noun

1. the local name for the River Thames at Oxford

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Isis ² British  

/ ˈaɪsɪs /

noun

1. an ancient Egyptian fertility goddess, depicted as a woman with a cow's horns, between which was the disc of the sun; wife and sister of Osiris

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Etymology

Origin of Isis¹

< Latin < Greek Îsis < Egyptian 'st

Origin of ISIS²

First recorded in 2010–15; from Arabic al-Sham, an ancient territory known in English as the Levant, an area on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Isis ISIS

Paul Keenan, defending Sheikhi, said his client is a Syrian refugee who had fled the "terror of Isis" and that he maintains his innocence.

From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026

He broke ties with al Qaeda in 2016 and later fought against Isis.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 20, 2025

All the fixtures and artwork are donated, including bookshelves, massive mirrors and a bust of the Egyptian goddess Isis as well as a replica of the Titanic above the used fiction section.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2025

Carbona remade BioLife into AveXis: Av for adeno-associated virus serotype 9, the engine of Kaspar’s drug; ve for vector; X for the DNA helix; and Is for Isis, the goddess of children, nature and magic.

From Salon ● Feb. 19, 2025

“Evil Set and Beautiful Isis have sent us a token,” Melanie chanted.

From "The Egypt Game" by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

Bibilocide—attacks on the written word—was a tactic of Nazi Germany, the Khmer Rouge and ISIS.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026

"In the last year, we have observed fairly steady construction activity at the site," says Spencer Faragasso of the ISIS.

From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026

David Albright, the founder and President of the ISIS, says that the "concern is Pickaxe Mountain could be a location where Iran puts an enrichment plant that could produce weapon-grade uranium for nuclear weapons".

From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026

Since then a major challenge has been how to integrate the Kurdish-led SDF, which the U.S. military worked with during the campaign against ISIS, with the new Syrian authorities.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 21, 2026

Their uniforms show they’re with the Protection Units, not ISIS.

From "Without Refuge" by Jane Mitchell