Islamist

1 of 2

noun

Is·​lam·​ist is-ˈlä-mist 

iz-, 

-ˈla-;

ˈiz-lə-

plural Islamists

1

: a supporter or advocate of Islamism (see islamism sense 2)

Beyond this core belief in the benefit of having an Islamic state, Islamists diverge on many issues …

—Muhammad Haniff Hassan and Walid Jumblatt Abdullah

… he [Fawaz A. Gerges] cast the region's current predicament as the result of a decades-long contest between secular nationalists and Islamists for "the state, its power, and its position as custodian of the public sphere."

—Andrew Arsan

The administration came to recognize that 30 years of Saddam [Hussein]—a secular, failed tyrant—had left only hard-core Islamists as the opposition.

—Fareed Zakaria

2

: a student or scholar of Islam

Islamist

2 of 2

adjective

: advocating for the reordering of government and society in accordance with laws prescribed by Islam : relating to or characteristic of Islamists

Islamist groups

an Islamist leader

In the 1960s, King Hassan II allowed Islamism to spread as a counterweight to secular political opposition. The north became especially fertile ground for Islamist movements and Wahhabism, the puritanical strain of Saudi Islam.

—Andrea Elliott

Word History

First Known Use

Noun

1914, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Adjective

1983, in the meaning defined above