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Jonah

[joh-nuh]
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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR Jonah ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a Minor Prophet who, for his impiety, was thrown overboard from his ship and swallowed by a large fish, remaining in its belly for three days before being cast up onto the shore unharmed.
a book of the Bible bearing his name.
any person or thing regarded as bringing bad luck.
Also Jo·nas [joh-nuh s] /ˈdʒoʊ nəs/. a male given name: from a Hebrew word meaning “dove.”

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RELATED WORDS

unlucky, woeful, cursed, ill-fated, loser, luckless, miserable, star-crossed, unhappy, untoward, wretched, infelicitous, hexed, ill-starred, snakebit
Related formsJo·nah·esque, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for jonah

Contemporary Examples of jonah

Historical Examples of jonah

  • The history of Jonah and the whale, I read at least twenty times.

    Ned Myers

    James Fenimore Cooper

  • I 'guess Jonah wa'n't more tickled when he set foot on dry land.

    Meadow Grass

    Alice Brown

  • So they took up Jonah and cast him forth into the sea, and the sea ceased from her raging.'

    Storyology

    Benjamin Taylor

  • "I suppose Jonah cal'lated he didn't need to be swallowed," he mused.

    Shavings

    Joseph C. Lincoln

  • "I know how Jonah felt after the whale unloaded him," he drawled.

    Shavings

    Joseph C. Lincoln

British Dictionary definitions for jonah

Jonah

Jonas (ˈdʒəʊnəs)

noun

Old Testament
  1. a Hebrew prophet who, having been thrown overboard from a ship in which he was fleeing from God, was swallowed by a great fish and vomited onto dry land
  2. the book in which his adventures are recounted
a person believed to bring bad luck to those around him; a jinx
Derived FormsJonahesque, adjective
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
Word Origin and History for jonah

Jonah

masc. proper name, biblical prophet, from Hebrew Yonah, literally "dove, pigeon."

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper