Word.ws English Dictionary

Rastafari

Rastafari proper noun: rastafarianism.

Proper noun

Rastafari

  1. Rastafarianism.
    Synonyms:
    Rasta

Noun

Rastafari (plural Rastafari or Rastafaris)

  1. A Rastafarian.
    • At the same time, social, economic, and even political relations remain individualistic and personal rather than communitarian as in the case of the Bobo. Thus most Rastafari are allowed to lead their own lives as members of a religion but without the risk of violating collective discipline. They...1994, Barry Chevannes, Rastafari: Roots and Ideology, Syracuse University Press, →ISBN, page 190
    • Over time, the Bible has been altered from its original state. For political and economic reasons, things have been edited out, especially in the case of the King James I version of the Bible (Nicholas 1979). Therefore many Rastafari are particularly selective about what they believe in the...2018, Michael Barnett, The Rastafari Movement: A North American and Caribbean Perspective, Routledge, →ISBN

Adjective

Rastafari (not comparable)

  1. Rastafarian.
    • “Are you from Jamaica?” he blurted out. / The Rastafarian stopped and looked at the reporter with soft red eyes. “Who, I? Sí.” / “Are you Rastafari?” Sloman pressed.1979, Larry Sloman, “Overture”, in Reefer Madness: The History of Marijuana in America, Indianapolis, Ind.: Bobbs-Merrill Company, →ISBN, page 15
    • All that was behind him, he said, for he had become Rastafari and all he wanted to do was to learn black history and spread love and feelings to everybody.1991, David Dabydeen, chapter II, in The Intended, London: Minerva, published 1992, →ISBN, page 87

Examples of Rastafari in a sentence

  • Thus most Rastafari are allowed to lead their own lives as members of a religion but without the risk of violating collective discipline.1994, Barry Chevannes, Rastafari: Roots and Ideology, Syracuse University Press, →ISBN, page 190:
  • Therefore many Rastafari are particularly selective about what they believe in the scriptures.2018, Michael Barnett, The Rastafari Movement: A North American and Caribbean Perspective, Routledge, →ISBN:
  • Price has spoken of the shift in class among Rastafari; though many Rastafari are still economically deprived, there do exist “monied Rastafari” (ibid.).2020, Erin C. MacLeod, “Rastafari Citizenship Strategies in Ethiopia: Ethnic Existence, Diaspora Claims, Resident Identification”, in Ian...
  • Ras Sam Brown, for example, explains why he is Rastafari by situating himself as a link between the past and present: […]2009, Charles Price, “Encounters”, in Becoming Rasta: Origins of Rastafari Identity in Jamaica, New York, N.Y.: New York University Press...

Synonyms of Rastafari

Forms of Rastafari

pluralRastafari
pluralRastafaris

Origin of Rastafari

From Amharic ራስ (ras, “Duke”, literally “head”) and ተፈሪ (täfäri, “revered”) from ተፈሪ መኮንን (täfäri mäkonn, “Haile Selassie”, literally “feared (son of) Makonnen”). More at Haile Selassie.

Words formed from Rastafari

Questions about Rastafari

What does Rastafari mean?
Rastafari means rastafarianism.
How do you use Rastafari in a sentence?
Thus most Rastafari are allowed to lead their own lives as members of a religion but without the risk of violating collective discipline.
What part of speech is Rastafari?
Rastafari can be a proper noun, a noun or an adjective.

Words near Rastafari in the dictionary

  1. Rastaban
  2. rastacap
  3. rastacaps
  4. rastacouère
  5. rastacouères
  6. Rastafari
  7. Rastafarian
  8. Rastafarianism
  9. Rastafarians
  10. Rastafaris
  11. Rastafarist

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Rastafari (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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Cite this entry: “Rastafari.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/rastafari. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.