synagogue
or syn·a·gog
[sin-uh-gog, -gawg]
- a Jewish house of worship, often having facilities for religious instruction.
- an assembly or congregation of Jews for the purpose of religious worship.
- the Jewish religion; Judaism.
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Origin of synagogue
1125–75; Middle English synagoge < Late Latin synagōga < Greek synagōgḗ assembly, meeting, equivalent to syn- syn- + agōgḗ, noun use of feminine of agōgós (adj.) gathering, derivative of ágein to bring, lead; akin to Latin agere to drive
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Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for synagogue
Contemporary Examples
Terrorists killed four rabbis, three of them American, in a synagogue this morning.
Freundel is also rabbi of the prominent Kesher Israel synagogue in Washington.
A phone message for Freundel at his synagogue was not returned, nor was an e-mail to his personal account.
“I am shocked when I hear journalists saying if the De La Roquette synagogue was attacked it is because of the Jews,” he said.
Following the establishment of the State of Israel, the synagogue was used as a school for displaced Palestinians.
Historical Examples
Their prayer in the synagogue had been heard, and the child they had asked for was to come.
The ScapegoatHall Caine
Never once since the birth of Naomi had he crossed the threshold of the synagogue.
The ScapegoatHall Caine
The Judges had reassembled in the synagogue in the early morning.
The ScapegoatHall Caine
As the afternoon wore on, the doors of the synagogue were thrown open.
The ScapegoatHall Caine
On the Sabbath he went to the synagogue, and was called up to read in the Law.
Dreamers of the GhettoI. Zangwill
synagogue
- a building for Jewish religious services and usually also for religious instruction
- (as modifier)synagogue services
- a congregation of Jews who assemble for worship or religious study
- the religion of Judaism as organized in such congregations
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Word Origin
C12: from Old French sinagogue, from Late Latin synagōga, from Greek sunagōgē a gathering, from sunagein to bring together, from syn- + agein to lead
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for synagogue
n.
late 12c., from Old French sinagoge (11c.), from Late Latin synagoga "congregation of Jews," from Greek synagoge "place of assembly, synagogue," literally "meeting, assembly," from synagein "to gather, assemble," from syn- "together" (see syn-) + agein "bring, lead" (see act). Used by Greek translators of the Old Testament as a loan-translation of late Hebrew keneseth "assembly" (cf. beth keneseth "synagogue," literally "house of assembly.")
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
synagogue
[(sin-uh-gog)]
In Judaism, a house of worship and learning; also, the congregation that meets there.
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The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.