Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
Kol Nidre

Kol Nidre

1 9.9
An important Jewish prayer at the start of Yom Kippur asking God to cancel personal promises
  • noun
  • /koʊl nɪˈdreɪ/
: Kol Nidre
  • For Kol Nidre, the military helicoptered all the interested Jews in Anbar Province to Al Asad Air Base to form a minyan.

Examples

  • It is in their book called the Talmud and it is the basis of their prayer called the Kol Nidre, which I will provide to you so you get a better sense of what you're up against, and in the future, you will be better prepared to guard yourself against such trickery:

    Blog text (28)

  • The Kol Nidre is the holiest Jewish prayer and is recited several times on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

    Blog text (28)

  • The Kol Nidre service itself was unremarkable, which I think was only proper, since Jews have been saying Kol Nidre uninterrupted, by the waters of Babylon, for at least the past 1,500 years.

    Academic text (2010)

  • The Kol Nidre service itself was unremarkable, which I think was only proper, since Jews have been saying Kol Nidre uninterrupted, by the waters of Babylon, for at least the past 1,500 years.

    Academic text (2010)

  • On Yom Kippur evening, the congregation gathers to recite the Kol Nidre, a solemn prayer asking for forgiveness of vows.

  • The Kol Nidre is a significant moment during the Yom Kippur service, marking the start of a day of reflection and atonement.

  • Traditionally, the Kol Nidre prayer is chanted three times, symbolizing the annulment of personal vows made throughout the year.

Surface Forms

Kol Nidre singular

Morphology

Kol + Nidre

The constituents 'Kol' and 'Nidre' are non-English (Hebrew/Aramaic) lexical items without transparent English senses, so a B1 learner who 'knows' the constituents in English would not be able to compose the prayer meaning. The phrase is a fixed liturgical name for a specific religious prayer and its meaning is cultural and lexicalized rather than derivable from its parts.

Etymology

Kol Nidre comes from an old language called Aramaic; its parts kol and nidre mean 'all' and 'vows'. The prayer is sung at the start of Yom Kippur to ask that personal promises be canceled, so the name fits because it is about 'all vows'.