Ira

¹ American

[ahy-ruh] / ˈaɪ rə /

noun

a male given name: from a Hebrew word meaning “watchful.”

IRA ² American

Or I.R.A.

IRA British

abbreviation

Irish Republican Army

"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

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Qatari contracts are usually more rigid, said Ira Joseph, a senior research associate at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 19, 2026

My first name was inspired by “Liza,” the 1929 song with Ira Gershwin’s lyrics.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 10, 2026

Such disruptions can no longer be easily dismissed as one-off issues, says Ira Joseph, a researcher at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University.

From Barron's • Mar. 6, 2026

Debmar-Mercury co-presidents Ira Bernstein and Mort Marcus last week attributed the cancellation to “the evolving daytime television landscape.”

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 11, 2026

He put out his hand to Ira, but she shied away from him.

From "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023