Hebraize

[ hee-brey-ahyz, -bree- ]

verb (used without object)

, He·bra·ized, He·bra·iz·ing.

1. to use expressions or constructions distinctive of the Hebrew language.

verb (used with object)

, He·bra·ized, He·bra·iz·ing.

1. to make conformable to the spirit, character, principles, or practices of the Hebrew people.

Hebraize

/ ˈhiːbreɪˌaɪz /

verb

1. to become or cause to become Hebrew or Hebraic

Derived Forms

• ˌHebraiˈzation, noun
• ˈHebraˌizer, noun

Other Words From

• Hebra·i·zation noun
• Hebra·izer noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of Hebraize¹

1635–45; < Late Greek Hebraízein to speak Hebrew, behave like a Jew. See Hebrew, -ize

Example Sentences

Puritans tried to Hebraize their Christian quest for personal salvation in Christ by grounding it in covenanted communities of law and collective discipline.

From Salon

Eventually, David Ben-Gurion persuaded her to Hebraize her name to Meir, which means "illumination."

From Time Magazine Archive

"It may," he said, "be all very well for born Hebraizers, like Mr. Spurgeon, to Hebraize; but for Liberal statesmen to Hebraize is surely unsafe, and to see poor old Liberal hacks Hebraizing, whose real self belongs to a kind of negative Hellenism—a state of moral inPg 167difference, without intellectual ardour—is even painful."

From Project Gutenberg

The Greek, on the other hand, who had not yet comprehended the majesty of his neighbor's monotheism, for lack of adequate presentation, did not Hebraize.

From Project Gutenberg

It was either composed by a man who tried to Hebraize the Greek, or, if a translator, by one who tried to Greecise the Hebraisms of his original—not to disguise or hide them—but only so as to prevent them from repelling or misleading the Greek reader.

From Project Gutenberg