name
Israel
IHZ-ray-uhl
name
1
A country in the Middle East on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, established as a modern state in 1948.
"They flew to Israel to visit relatives in Tel Aviv."
2
In the Bible, the ancestral homeland of the Jewish people, and another name given to the patriarch Jacob.
"The Bible recounts how Jacob was renamed Israel."
How to Use Israel
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishThe modern country in the Middle East, and also a biblical name tied to Jacob and his descendants.
Word Forms
Israels plural
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They flew to _____ to visit relatives in Tel Aviv.
Etymology
From Hebrew Yisra'el. In the Bible, the name is explained as meaning something like "he wrestles with God" or "God rules," given to Jacob after Genesis 32:28.