to be mevattel
Definitions
v. To belittle, disparage.
Example Sentences
"To be mevattel a person or idea is not only to disparage him or her or it, or even to display a facile contempt." (source)
Languages of Origin
- Textual Hebrew
- Yiddish
Etymology
Y מבֿטל זײַן mevatl zayn 'to distract (from)'
- Orthodox: Jews who identify as Orthodox and observe halacha (Jewish law)
- Older: Jews who are middle-aged and older
- Ashkenazim: Jews with Ashkenazi heritage
- North America
- Yiddish and English: A Century of Yiddish in America, by Sol Steinmetz (Tuscaloosa, 1986).
- Frumspeak: The First Dictionary of Yeshivish, by Chaim Weiser (Northvale, 1995).
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Alternative Spellings
to be mevatel
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