messiah means the promised and expected savior or liberator of the Jewish people. It carries an Arena rating of 1751, earned across 14 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, messiah ranks #310 of 17,104 for Most Storied Words, #658 of 42,749 for Qualifying, #734 of 17,124 for Most Sublime Words, #931 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books.
messiah is pronounced /məˈsaɪ.ə/.
Why “messiah” is a great word
An expected savior or liberator of a people. From Late Latin Messias and Greek Messias, from Hebrew מָשִׁיחַ (māšîaḥ, 'anointed one'), from the verb מָשַׁח (māšaḥ, 'to anoint'). Unlike 'Christ'—a proper title derived from the Greek translation *Christos*—or 'prophet'—a voice of divine truth without the inherent promise of royal deliverance—Messiah is the archetype of deferred hope. It is the scent of holy oil on a king's brow, the silhouette forever approaching on the horizon, the collective breath held for centuries; it is the persistent, dangerous belief that history bends toward rescue.
Etymology
Derived from Middle English Messyas.
name
- The promised and expected savior or liberator of the Jewish people.
- A saviour or liberator of a group of people.
- Jesus Christ.
noun
- The one who is ordained by God to lead the people of Israel, believed by Christians and Muslims to be Jesus Christ.
- A similar religious figure or awaited divine ruler, such as the Islamic Mahdi.
- An extremely powerful or revered figure.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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