Definition of cantillate in English:
cantillate
See synonyms for cantillate on Thesaurus.comtransitive verb
[with object] rareChant or intone (a passage of religious text)
‘he cantillated the verses of the ancient Avesta’- ‘Father Anshel was good at cantillating the Book of Esther but hopeless at making money.’
- ‘Augusta Levine tutors each child in learning how to cantillate the Torah and Haftarah with special emphasis upon the child's own Torah portion.’
- ‘They do at least agree that the tradition of cantillating the scriptures is a very old one, and was probably firmly established in tradition before the Massoretes began their work.’
- ‘As Kahn observes, the saxophone itself does the chanting - articulating and cantillating the word patterns of Coltrane's poem of praise and thanksgiving to his Creator.’
- ‘Because his family could not afford to pay for his education, he was sent to a religious school where he mastered the cantillating of the Koran.’
repeat from memory, say aloud, read aloud, declaim, quote, speak, deliver, render
Pronunciation
Origin
Mid 19th century from Latin cantillat- ‘hummed’, from the verb cantillare, from cantare (see chant).
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