Jump To:

• 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.

---

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.

---

Isis ¹ British  

/ ˈaɪsɪs /

noun

1. the local name for the River Thames at Oxford

---

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

---

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

The major rediscovery, and the title subject of the documentary, is the Temple of Isis that sat upon the island of Antirhodos, itself residing in a soggy grave.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 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

BBC News spent two days outside London's HMP Belmarsh and HMP Isis speaking to people visiting and others being released to gauge how gangs in jails are operating.

From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2024

April told everyone to wait just inside the fence while she tiptoed forward and lit the cone of incense on the altar of Set and the two candles that stood before the goddess Isis.

From "The Egypt Game" by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

Less immediate concern about non-state actors and militant groups such as al-Qaeda or ISIS.

From BBC ● Jun. 12, 2026

Widely known as the "ISIS brides", the case has stirred strong debate in Australia.

From Barron's ● May 28, 2026

New York City police officers did both of those things last Saturday in foiling an attempted attack allegedly inspired by ISIS.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 10, 2026

Once a radical Islamist with ties to al-Qaida and ISIS, Sharaa broke with jihadist networks in 2016.

From Slate ● Sep. 23, 2025

Our nearest border crossing is in Mursitpinar, twenty minutes’ drive from Kobani, but Turkey closed down the border there months ago, after the Protection Units took back Kobani from ISIS.

From "Without Refuge" by Jane Mitchell