Deborah

name

name ·3 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A judge of Israel.

    "And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time."

  2. 2
    A nurse of Rebecca.
  3. 3
    A female given name from Hebrew, popular from the 1940s to the 1970s, first in the USA, then in the UK.

    "Rapier. Heigho! Deborah! it's an ugly name, a damnable name - the name I mean! - it sounds like Gomorrah! Deb! Debby! - worse still - sounded sharp now I rather like it! - Deborah! Deborah! Deborah!"

Example

More examples

"Her cheeks were crimson, her whole body from head to foot instinct and alive with a beauty that to Cyrus and Deborah, as they stood mute with horror in the open doorway, seemed akin to some devilish enchantment."

Etymology

From Hebrew דְבוֹרָה (dvorá), meaning bee.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.