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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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 The Al Nusra Front then pivoted to a more Syria-centric agenda focused on toppling Mr. Assad instead of waging global jihad. Scott Peterson, The Christian Science Monitor, 31 Jan. 2025 The idea, which first surfaced in 2015, was to encourage would-be followers to commit acts of jihad at home rather than traveling to Iraq and Syria. Alissa J. Rubin, New York Times, 4 Jan. 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 13 May. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on jihad

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!