When challenged to pronounce "shibboleth", Christopher Columbus did it in such a perfect way, that he was instantly recognized as the new leader of the natives' army.
Source: tatoeba (773968)
Shibboleth
//ˈʃɪbəlɛθ//
Synonyms for "shibboleth" (33 found)
Ranked by relevance and common usage.
Closest matches (7)
Strong matches (10)
Related words (16)
Related word relations
OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.
More general
6 entriesSynonyms
2 entriesRelated terms
1 entriescoordinate
5 entriesderived
1 entriesis a
1 entriesrelated to
6 entriesTranslations
64 translations across 30 languages.
Afrikaans
1 entries- sjibbolet noun (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test)
Belarusian
1 entries- шыбалет noun (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test)
Catalan
1 entries- xibòlet noun (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test)
Chinese Mandarin
2 entries- 特有用語 /特有用语 noun (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test)
- 示播列 noun (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test)
Czech
1 entries- šibolet noun (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test)
Danish
1 entries- shibbolet noun (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test)
Dutch
4 entries- cliché noun (a common or longstanding belief, custom, or catchphrase associated with a particular group, especially one with little current meaning or truth)
- herkenningswoord noun (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test)
- sjibbolet noun (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test)
- slagzin noun (a common or longstanding belief, custom, or catchphrase associated with a particular group, especially one with little current meaning or truth)
Esperanto
1 entries- ŝiboleto noun (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test)
Finnish
3 entries- iskulause noun (a common or longstanding belief, custom, or catchphrase associated with a particular group, especially one with little current meaning or truth)
- uskomus noun (a common or longstanding belief, custom, or catchphrase associated with a particular group, especially one with little current meaning or truth)
- šibbolet noun (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test)
French
4 entries- schibboleth noun (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test)
- schibboleth noun (a common or longstanding belief, custom, or catchphrase associated with a particular group, especially one with little current meaning or truth)
- shibboleth noun (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test)
- shibboleth noun (a common or longstanding belief, custom, or catchphrase associated with a particular group, especially one with little current meaning or truth)
Galician
2 entries- clixé noun (a common or longstanding belief, custom, or catchphrase associated with a particular group, especially one with little current meaning or truth)
- contrasinal noun (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test)
German
4 entries- Chiffre noun (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test)
- Erkennungszeichen noun (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test)
- Kennwort noun (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test)
- Klischee noun (a common or longstanding belief, custom, or catchphrase associated with a particular group, especially one with little current meaning or truth)
Icelandic
1 entries- sjibbólet noun (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test)
Irish
1 entries- teagasc seanchaite noun (a common or longstanding belief, custom, or catchphrase associated with a particular group, especially one with little current meaning or truth)
Korean
1 entries- 십볼렛 noun (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test)
Latin
3 entries- scibbōleth noun (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test)
- scibōleth noun (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test)
- sebbōleth noun (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test)
Latvian
1 entries- šibolets noun (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test)
Limburgish
1 entries- sjibbolet noun (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test)
Norwegian Bokmål
1 entries- sjibbolet noun (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test)
Polish
1 entries- szybolet noun (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test)
Portuguese
1 entries- xibolete noun (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test)
Romanian
1 entries- șibolet noun (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test)
Russian
4 entries- клише́ noun (a common or longstanding belief, custom, or catchphrase associated with a particular group, especially one with little current meaning or truth)
- та́йный паро́ль noun (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test)
- шибболе́т noun (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test)
- шибболе́т noun (a common or longstanding belief, custom, or catchphrase associated with a particular group, especially one with little current meaning or truth)
Spanish
4 entries- contraseña noun (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test)
- doctrina anticuada noun (a common or longstanding belief, custom, or catchphrase associated with a particular group, especially one with little current meaning or truth)
- santo y seña noun (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test)
- shíbolez noun (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test)
Swedish
1 entries- schibbolet noun (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test)
Ukrainian
1 entries- шібболе́т noun (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test)
Vietnamese
1 entries- síp-bô-lét noun (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test)
Volapük
1 entries- jibolet noun (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test)
Welsh
1 entries- siboleth noun (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test)
West-Frisian
1 entries- sjibbolet noun (a word, pronunciation, or custom, distinguishing members of a group, especially as a test)
Sample sentences
9 total sentences available.
In recent times, the correct treatment of initial h in speech has come to be regarded as a kind of shibboleth of social position.
Source: wiktionary
He also declares that "th" is the veritable English shibboleth. He advises those Germans who cannot pronounce the sound correctly to pronounce it like "d," the symbol which he regularly uses for "th" in his lessons.
Source: wiktionary
It's about time we abandoned the bourgeois shibboleth that earning money makes you a better person.
Source: wiktionary
Showing 4 of 9 available sentences.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.