jihad

noun

ji·​had ji-ˈhäd How to pronounce jihad (audio)
 chiefly British  -ˈhad
variants or less commonly jehad
1
: a holy war waged on behalf of Islam as a religious duty
also : a personal struggle in devotion to Islam especially involving spiritual discipline
2
: a crusade for a principle or belief

Examples of jihad in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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Over several months, Akhtar allegedly expressed strong support for the Islamic State group and violent jihad, including aspirations to travel overseas to join it. Elaine Mallon, The Washington Examiner, 24 June 2025 All over Nigeria, these terrorists are going about on a jihad and conquering territories and renaming them accordingly. Paul Tilsley, FOXNews.com, 10 June 2025 These fissures are where Islamism leaps in to segregate, cohort, and indoctrinate with antidemocratic illiberal Islamist values forming the milieu ripe for radicalization, including terrorism and evolutionary jihad. Faisal Kutty, MSNBC Newsweek, 8 May 2025 Their highest goal is death through jihad; every death is, to them, a martyrdom to be replaced by the next. Noa Tishby, New York Daily News, 1 May 2025 See All Example Sentences for jihad

Word History

Etymology

Arabic jihād

First Known Use

1837, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of jihad was in 1837

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Jihad.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jihad. Accessed 10 Jul. 2025.

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