Karaite

[ kar-uh-ahyt ]

/ ˈkær əˌaɪt /

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. 2019

Examples from the Web for 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|DAILY BEAST
The want of Talmudic dialectics is severely missed in the Karaite authors, for it rendered them tedious talkers.
History of the Jews, Vol. III (of 6)|Heinrich Graetz
Benjamin Nahavendi, Karaite and founder of the Makariyites, 149 f.
History of the Jews, Vol. III (of 6)|Heinrich Graetz
They had no idea of scientific research, would have condemned it, in fact, as a leaning to Karaite doctrine.
History of the Jews, Vol. III (of 6)|Heinrich Graetz

He wrote another book in which he showed the absurdity of the boundless extension of relationship in the Karaite law.
History of the Jews, Vol. III (of 6)|Heinrich Graetz
Aaron ben Elijah agrees in the main with his Karaite predecessors that Job was not punished for any fault he had committed.
A History of Mediaeval Jewish Philosophy|Isaac Husik

British Dictionary definitions for karaite

Karaite

/ (ˈkɛərəˌaɪt) /

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