twelve tribes of israel
noun · n
Simple meaning
Twelve kin groups of ancient Israel each traditionally descended from one of the twelve sons of Jacob.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
twehlvtrybzuhvihzreeuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈtwɛlvtɹaɪbzəvɪzɹiəl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
Twelve kin groups of ancient Israel each traditionally descended from one of the twelve sons of Jacob
n
A Rastafari religious group and one of the Mansions of Rastafari.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Twelve kin groups of ancient Israel each traditionally descended from one of the twelve sons of Jacob
Used this way, twelve tribes of israel is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in historical writing contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Historical writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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