Word.ws English Dictionary

Levite

Syllables: Le·viteUK/ˈliː.vaɪt/

Levite noun: a member of the Hebrew tribe of Levi, particularly in its role as a priestly caste.

Noun

Levite (plural Levites)

  1. A member of the Hebrew tribe of Levi, particularly in its role as a priestly caste.
    • And there was a young man out of Bethlehemjudah of the family of Judah, who was a Levite, and he sojourned there.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Judges 17:7
  2. (humorous, obsolete) A clergyman.
  3. (historical) A type of loose dress.
    • A habit-maker […] is gone stark in love with Lady Ossory, on fitting her with the new dress, I think they call it a Levite, and says he never saw so glorious a figure […] .1779, Horace Walpole, letter, 15 November
    • Gainsborough shows her wearing a blue and white striped silk wrapping gown, known as a levite: a clever and subtle choice of costume, vaguely ‘oriental’ in mood, deriving its name from the theatre.2003, Aileen Ribeiro, in Robyn Asleson, Notorious Muse, Yale UNiversity Press 2003, p. 109

Adjective

Levite (not comparable)

  1. Of or related to Levi, the Levites, or their priestly role.
    Synonyms:
    Aaronite, Aaronid

Synonyms of Levite

Forms of Levite

pluralLevites

Origin of Levite

Borrowed from Late Latin Levītēs, Lēvīta, itself borrowed from Ancient Greek Λευῑ̈́της (Leuī̈́tēs). By surface analysis, Levi + -ite.

Questions about Levite

What does Levite mean?
Levite means a member of the Hebrew tribe of Levi, particularly in its role as a priestly caste.
What part of speech is Levite?
Levite can be a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce Levite?
Levite is pronounced /ˈliː.vaɪt/ (UK).
What is the plural of Levite?
The plural of Levite is Levites.

Words near Levite in the dictionary

  1. levitational
  2. levitations
  3. levitative
  4. levitator
  5. levitators
  6. Levite
  7. leviteracetam
  8. Levites
  9. Levitic
  10. levitical
  11. Levitical degree

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Levite (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-JutishMale-Levite.wav.

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