bat mitzvah

or bath mitz·vah, bas mitz·vah

[ baht mits-vuh, bahs; Sephardic Hebrew bahtmeets-vah; Ashkenazic Hebrew bahs mits-vuh ]
See synonyms for bat mitzvah on Thesaurus.com
noun(often initial capital letters)
  1. a solemn ceremony, chiefly among Reform and Conservative Jews, that is held in the synagogue on Friday night or Saturday morning to admit formally as an adult member of the Jewish community a girl 12 to 13 years old.

  2. the girl participating in this ceremony.

verb (used with object)
  1. to administer the ceremony of bat mitzvah to.

Origin of bat mitzvah

1
From Hebrew bath miṣwāh literally, “daughter of the divine law”

Words that may be confused with bat mitzvah

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use bat mitzvah in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for Bat Mitzvah

Bat Mitzvah

/ (bɑːt ˈmɪtsvə) sometimes not capitals Judaism /


adjective
  1. (of a Jewish girl) having attained religious majority at the age of twelve

noun
  1. the date of, or, in some congregations, a ceremony marking, this event

  2. the girl herself on that day

Origin of Bat Mitzvah

1
from Hebrew, literally: daughter of the commandment
  • Also called (old-fashioned): Bas Mitzvah

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for bat mitzvah

bat mitzvah

[ (baht, bahs mits-vuh) ]


An important ceremony and social event in Judaism marking the beginning of religious responsibility for Jewish girls; it is the less frequently observed counterpart of the bar mitzvah. Bat mitzvah is Hebrew for “daughter of the commandment.”

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.