Karaite

[kar-uh-ahyt]

noun Judaism.

a member of a sect, founded in Persia in the 8th century a.d. by the religious leader Anan ben David, that rejected the Talmud and the teachings of the rabbis in favor of strict adherence to the Bible as the only source of Jewish law and practice.

Compare Rabbinite.

Origin of Karaite

1720–30; < Hebrew qarāʿ(īm) (equivalent to qarā Biblical scholar, literally, reader + īm plural suffix) + -ite¹

Related formsKar·a·ism

[kar-uh-iz-uh m] /ˈkær əˌɪz əm/, Kar·a·it·ism

[kar-uh-ahy-tiz-uh m] /ˈkær ə aɪˌtɪz əm/, nounKar·a·it·ic

[kar-uh-it-ik] /ˌkær əˈɪt ɪk/, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for karaite

Contemporary Examples of karaite

Less famously, the synagogue of the Karaite sect in Abbasiyya was also restored under her tenure.
Egyptian Jewish Leader Fought To Keep Heritage At Home
Hussein Omar
April 15, 2013

Historical Examples of karaite

His neighbour was a Karaite, drifted here from another community.
Ghetto Comedies
Israel Zangwill
Benjamin Nahavendi, Karaite and founder of the Makariyites, 149 f.
History of the Jews, Vol. III (of 6)
Heinrich Graetz
What a contrast there is between Saadiah and his Karaite opponent!
History of the Jews, Vol. III (of 6)
Heinrich Graetz
In Askalon there lived, at about this time, 300 Samaritan and 40 Karaite families.
History of the Jews, Vol. III (of 6)
Heinrich Graetz
He had carried on a harmless correspondence with a Karaite Chacham in the neighboring village of Kukizow.
History of the Jews, Vol. V (of 6)
Heinrich Graetz

British Dictionary definitions for karaite

Karaite

noun

a member of a Jewish sect originating in the 8th century ad, which rejected the Talmud, favoured strict adherence to and a literal interpretation of the Bible, and attempted to deduce a code of life from it

adjective

of, relating to, or designating the Karaite sect

Word Origin for Karaite

C18: from Hebrew qāraīm members of the sect, scripturalists, from qārā to read

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