The word shibboleth in ancient Hebrew dialects meant 'ear of grain' (or, some say, 'stream'). From Wordnik.com. [BP | Asian Correspondent] Reference
A shibboleth is a mantra to which people get attached because it is easier than hard thinking. From Wordnik.com. [Irish Blogs] Reference
In ancient Israel, the word "shibboleth" became a communal password. From Wordnik.com. [Shalom, Shabbat, & Shibboleth] Reference
I'm just going to roll the word "shibboleth" around in my mouth for a while. From Wordnik.com. [Intelligent Design and Rhetoric] Reference
The "shibboleth" of today is the sentence, "Israel has the right to defend itself from attacks.". From Wordnik.com. [Shalom, Shabbat, & Shibboleth] Reference
A mere tax "shibboleth", he said, at a time when real reform would focus on taxing unearned wealth and pollution. From Wordnik.com. [Nick Clegg's Hugo Young Lecture thesis has a striking weakness] Reference
To prevent any of the Ephraimites from escaping, the Gileadites made everyone they caught speak the word 'shibboleth'. From Wordnik.com. [justinker Diary Entry] Reference
On that occasion he coined the shibboleth. From Wordnik.com. [The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 13: Revelation-Stock] Reference
Perhaps it is a kind of shibboleth, by which the faithful can be distinguished. From Wordnik.com. [Notes from underground] Reference
"Anti-masonic" is the word, a kind of "shibboleth" for those who are to cross the political "fords" of the new Jordan. From Wordnik.com. [Personal Memoirs of a Residence of Thirty Years with the Indian Tribes on the American Frontiers] Reference
The shibboleth of "one China" seems ever more archaic. From Wordnik.com. [The Myth Of 'One China'] Reference
The shibboleth of these declaimers was arbitrary arrests. From Wordnik.com. [A Political History of the State of New York, Volumes 1-3] Reference
Another Western shibboleth about the future will thereby fall. From Wordnik.com. [No Chance Against China] Reference
We have allowed the term "limited war" to become a shibboleth. From Wordnik.com. [Thud Ridge]
This shibboleth is the logical result of the attitude mentioned. From Wordnik.com. [A Short History of Women's Rights From the Days of Augustus to the Present Time. with Special Reference to England and the United States. Second Edition Revised, With Additions.] Reference
He would not employ the shibboleth that his accusers practiced on him. From Wordnik.com. [justinker Diary Entry] Reference
Prone in the dust lies the demon Despair, still shouting his shibboleth. From Wordnik.com. [The Path of Dreams Poems] Reference
A very similar political shibboleth, often used by Party Socialists, is. From Wordnik.com. [Socialism As It Is A Survey of The World-Wide Revolutionary Movement] Reference
Tho 'the demon Despair, where he vanquished lies, still utter his shibboleth. From Wordnik.com. [The Path of Dreams Poems] Reference
The Anglo-Saxon was the first to establish fair play and make it his shibboleth. From Wordnik.com. [History of the American Negro in the Great World War His Splendid Record in the Battle Zones of Europe; Including a Resume of His Past Services to his Country in the Wars of the Revolution, of 1812, the War of Rebellion, the Indian Wars on the Frontier, the Spanish-American War, and the Late Imbroglio With Mexico] Reference
A year or two ago it became the shibboleth of his class that they couldn't read Dickens. From Wordnik.com. [My Contemporaries In Fiction] Reference
So, you know, I think this is just a shibboleth, in essence, to come back with something. From Wordnik.com. [CNN Transcript Apr 1, 2007] Reference
Marcoy begged the interpreter to procure him the explanation of this perpetual shibboleth. From Wordnik.com. [Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Volume 11, No. 23, February, 1873] Reference
"The peace of South Africa is only possible under Boer supremacy," is the Bond shibboleth. From Wordnik.com. [Origin of the Anglo-Boer War Revealed (2nd ed.) The Conspiracy of the 19th Century Unmasked] Reference
Their shibboleth was hostility to a slave-holder, or one who would vote for a slave-holder. From Wordnik.com. [A Political History of the State of New York, Volumes 1-3] Reference
Our understanding of these battlefields is not advanced by the shibboleth that "all religions are one.". From Wordnik.com. [True or False: The Major Religions Are Essentially Alike] Reference
The establishment sees tenure as a shibboleth, teachers 'only guard against politics and arbitrary firings. From Wordnik.com. [Show-And-Tell Time] Reference
"Look for the lies" replaced "Look for the woman" or "Follow the money" as the new shibboleth of journalism. From Wordnik.com. [The Bradlee Files] Reference
Taking on selfishness, the Thatcherite shibboleth of right-to-buy, and the green lobby is a mammoth task for any party. From Wordnik.com. [Can David Cameron match Harold Macmillan's achievement in house-building?] Reference
And even if I buy the "hallowed" argument as anything other than a shibboleth for anti-Muslim bias, to whom is it sacred?. From Wordnik.com. [Ed Gurowitz, Ph.D.: Are We Moving Toward a Clan Society?] Reference
Why do you give any credit at all to the shibboleth that slightly higher taxes on wealth hurts job creation even slightly?. From Wordnik.com. [Pearlstein: On tax fight, Obama can't afford to lose] Reference
Greek architecture was discovered in the second half of the eighteenth century, it became the shibboleth of the 'virtuosi'. From Wordnik.com. [The Legacy of Greece Essays By: Gilbert Murray, W. R. Inge, J. Burnet, Sir T. L. Heath, D'arcy W. Thompson, Charles Singer, R. W. Livingston, A. Toynbee, A. E. Zimmern, Percy Gardner, Sir Reginald Blomfield] Reference
Ideological breakthroughs like these, where each side surrenders a cherished shibboleth, often precede phases of social progress. From Wordnik.com. [Why Rio Will Make History] Reference
"Always has been," I said, completing the little interchange that had been reiterated so often that it had become almost a shibboleth. From Wordnik.com. [Attrition] Reference
It is the shibboleth of the red blooded, hot headed, bravest and best of the nation, the youth, who die in countless thousands -- for what?. From Wordnik.com. [Evening Round Up More Good Stuff Like Pep] Reference
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