megillah

American  

[muh-gil-uh, muh-gee-lah] / məˈgɪl ə, mə giˈlɑ /

Or megilla

noun

megillahs, plural megilloth, plural megillot plural

1. Slang.

   1. a lengthy, detailed explanation or account.

      Just give me the facts, not the whole megillah.

   2. a lengthy and tediously complicated situation or matter.

2. (italics) a scroll, especially one containing the Book of Esther. Others are the Book of Ecclesiastes, the Song of Solomon, the Book of Ruth, and the Book of Lamentations.

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megillah British  

/ miɡiˈla, məˈɡɪlə /

noun

1. a scroll of the Book of Esther, read on the festival of Purim

2. a scroll of the Book of Ruth, Song of Songs, Lamentations, or Ecclesiastes

3. slang anything, such as a story or letter, that is too long or unduly drawn out

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• megillahs
  plural
• megillot
  plural
• megilloth
  plural

Etymology

Origin of megillah

First recorded in 1910–15; from Yiddish megile, from Biblical Hebrew məgillāh “scroll, roll, volume,” from gālal “to roll”

Example Sentences

As the Megillah reminds us, we ought to express gratitude with confidence and clarity.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 5, 2026

But some rabbis turned to online video readings of the Megillah in order to follow army orders while still respecting the religious requirements of the holiday.

From Barron's • Mar. 2, 2026

“The men are speed-reading the Megillah, and the women and Ivanka are serving food and taking food away, and she was in a long dress, dressed extremely conservatively.”

From The New Yorker • Aug. 15, 2016

On Wednesday at 5:30, there will be a reading of the story of Purim, the traditional Reading of the Megillah, including Haman-Booing and graggers.

From Washington Post • Mar. 18, 2016

During Purim, our congregation gathers at the synagogue to listen to the Megillah, the scroll that tells Esther’s story.

From "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan