Hanukkah
a Jewish festival lasting eight days, celebrated from the 25th day of the month of Kislev to the 2nd of Tevet in commemoration of the rededication of the Temple by the Maccabees following their victory over the Syrians under Antiochus IV, characterized chiefly by the lighting of the menorah on each night of the festival.
Origin of Hanukkah
1- Also called Feast of Dedication, Feast of Lights .
- Also Cha·nu·kah .
Words Nearby Hanukkah
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use Hanukkah in a sentence
Back in December, and just in time for Hanukkah, J.K. Rowling revealed via Twitter that there were Jewish wizards at Hogwarts.
Deck your halls instead with boughs of holly, shouting “Merry Christmas” (or “Happy Hanukkah”) well into the night.
To celebrate Hanukkah, Sam curated eight of his favorite looks for The Daily Beast.
YouTube Sensation Sam Horowitz Picks Eight Looks for Hanukkah | The Fashion Beast Team | November 28, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTHanukkah is the celebration of a Jewish military victory in the second century BCE.
Sarah Palin Is Here to Save Christmas, Thank God | Candida Moss | November 13, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTEspecially if the holiday shopping season is front-loaded because Hanukkah falls in November rather than December.
The story is immortalized in the second name "Feast of Lights," given to the Hanukkah festival.
A Thousand Years of Jewish History | Maurice H. (Maurice Henry) Harris
British Dictionary definitions for Hanukkah
Hanukah or Chanukah
/ (ˈhɑːnəkə, -nʊˌkɑː, Hebrew xanuˈka) /
the eight-day Jewish festival of lights beginning on the 25th of Kislev and commemorating the rededication of the temple by Judas Maccabaeus in 165 bc: Also called: Feast of Dedication, Feast of Lights
Origin of Hanukkah
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Cultural definitions for Hanukkah
[ (khah-nuh-kuh, hah-nuh-kuh) ]
A festival in Judaism that occurs each December. Hanukkah commemorates the victory of the Jews (see also Jews) in the second century b.c. over the Syrians, who had occupied their country, and the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem (see also Jerusalem) (hanukkah is Hebrew for “dedication”). Observers of Hanukkah light one candle in a candleholder called a menorah each night for eight nights in memory of a legend that, when the Temple was rededicated, its lamps burned, without enough oil, miraculously for a week.
Notes for Hanukkah
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Browse