Midianite

American

[mid-ee-uh-nahyt] / ˈmɪd i əˌnaɪt /

noun

a member of an ancient desert people of northwest Arabia near the Gulf of Aqaba, believed to have descended from Midian.

adjective

of or relating to the Midianites.

Etymology

Origin of Midianite

Midian + -ite ¹

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.

The second text represented Joseph as falling into the hands of Midianite merchants, the revision added Ishmaelites.

From Project Gutenberg

The other narrative speaks of the pursuit of the Midianite chiefs Zebah and Zalmunna3 across the northern end of Jordan, past Succoth and Penuel to the unidentified place Ḳarḳor.

From Project Gutenberg

The words are not the words of a Midianite at all, but such as a Jew would be more apt to utter.

From Project Gutenberg

We are told, with marked emphasis, that this Midianite, a priest, and accustomed to act as such with Moses in his family, “took a burnt-offering and sacrifices for God; and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before God.”

From Project Gutenberg

When the jars were broken with a crash, the torches suddenly flamed out in the darkness, and the noise and the unexpected light made a panic in the Midianite army.

From Project Gutenberg

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