Karaite

American  

[kar-uh-ahyt] / ˈkær əˌaɪt /

noun

Judaism.

1. 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.

---

Karaite British  

/ ˈkɛərəˌaɪt /

noun

1. 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

1. of, relating to, or designating the Karaite sect

Other Word Forms

• Karaism
  noun
• Karaitic
  adjective
• Karaitism
  noun

Etymology

Origin of Karaite

1720–30; < Hebrew qarāʿ ( īm ) (equivalent to qarā Biblical scholar, literally, reader + īm plural suffix) + -ite ¹

Example Sentences

Palestinian residents of east Jerusalem, environmentalists, urban planners, archaeologists and a small community from the Jewish Karaite sect had all lodged protests with the court in recent years.

From Seattle Times • May 15, 2022

They said the project would harm the holy city’s historic character, desecrate a Karaite cemetery, and impact the lives and businesses of local residents.

From Seattle Times • May 15, 2022

The Avramoglus are members of Istanbul's tiny Karaite Jewish community of less than 100 people, who trace their roots in the city to the 12th century Byzantine era.

From Reuters • Oct. 29, 2014

There are no medi�val Jewish works treating of religious and theological problems in which there is so much aloofness, such absence of theological prepossession and religious feeling as in some Karaite writings of Muʿtazilite stamp.

From A History of Mediaeval Jewish Philosophy by Husik, Isaac

Karaite, kā′r�-īt, n. one of a stricter sect of Jews who cling to the literal interpretation of Scripture as against oral tradition.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M) by Various