jonah
/'dʤounə/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
Proper noun:
- A book in the Old Testament: "Jonah" refers to a book of the Hebrew Bible and Christian Old Testament that narrates the story of the prophet Jonah.
- A prophet in the Old Testament: "Jonah" is the name of the prophet who was swallowed by a great fish.
Noun (often lowercase):
- A person believed to bring bad luck: A "jonah" is someone who is thought to cause misfortune or be a jinx to those around them.
Examples of Usage
Proper noun: The story of Jonah and the whale is found in the Book of Jonah.God commanded Jonah to go to the city of Nineveh.
Noun: The superstitious sailors considered the new passenger a jonah after the storm arose.He felt like a jonah because every project he joined seemed to fail.
Advanced Usage
- "to be a jonah": to be considered a bringer of bad luck.
Variants and Related Words
- Jonah-like (adj): resembling or characteristic of the prophet Jonah, especially in attempting to avoid a duty.
Synonyms
- Jinx (n): a person or thing that brings bad luck.
- Hoodoo (n, informal): a person or thing that brings or causes bad luck.
Idioms and Phrases
- A Jonah's journey: an arduous or reluctant journey, often one of avoidance, alluding to the biblical story.
Noun
- a book in the Old Testament that tells the story of Jonah and the whale
- a person believed to bring bad luck to those around him
- (Old Testament) Jonah did not wish to become a prophet so God caused a great storm to throw him overboard from a ship; he was saved by being swallowed by a whale that vomited him out onto dry land