noun ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A malicious possessing spirit, believed to be the dislocated soul of a dead person. Judaism
2. 2
   (Jewish folklore) a demon that enters the body of a living person and controls that body's behavior wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

afreetapparitionappearanceastralastral spiritbaba yaga

Example

More examples

"Sholem was possessed by the dybbuk of a very evil man."

Etymology

From Yiddish דיבוק (dibek), from Hebrew דבק (dovek, “cling”).

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