ayatollah

noun aya·tol·lah \ ˌī-ə-ˈtō-lə , -ˈtä- , -ˈtə- , ˈī-ə-ˌ \

|Updated on: 1 Jun 2018

Definition of ayatollah

: a religious leader among Shiite Muslims —used as a title of respect especially for one who is not an imam

Recent Examples of ayatollah from the Web

Sadr’s father and uncle were revered grand ayatollahs whose teachings guided the behavior of millions of followers and inspired a generation of Shiite Islamist activists.

— thanassis cambanis, BostonGlobe.com, "How did Iraq’s Moqtada al-Sadr become a statesman? People just got used to him," 26 May 2018
The ayatollahs, who fostered and protected the country’s transition to democracy, increasingly sound like an opposition.

— The Economist, "Iraqi voters are fed up with the old guard," 10 May 2018
Secularism is making inroads even in the holy city of Najaf, the seat of Iraq’s ayatollahs, which has thrived on Shia pilgrimage since the American invasion.

— The Economist, "Fifteen years after America’s invasion, Iraq is getting back on its feet," 28 Mar. 2018
That would be a greater danger to both his administration and U.S. interests than the displeasure of Erdogan or the ayatollahs could ever be.

— jonathan s. tobin, National Review, "Trump Should Buck the Consensus on the Kurds," 26 Sep. 2017
And under the deal, the ayatollahs have no viable path to a bomb for well over a decade.

— trudy rubin, Philly.com, "What you need to know about Trump's just-announced, hard-line strategy on Iran | Trudy Rubin," 13 Oct. 2017
The ayatollahs have neither the desire nor the incentive to renegotiate even a comma of the agreement.

— john bolton, WSJ, "The Iran Deal Isn’t Worth Saving," 28 Sep. 2017
The ayatollahs are using Mr. Obama’s handiwork to legitimize their terrorist state, facilitate (and conceal) their continuing nuclear-weapons and ballistic-missile programs, and acquire valuable resources from gullible negotiating partners.

— john bolton, WSJ, "The Iran Deal Isn’t Worth Saving," 28 Sep. 2017
Most unnerving, the president’s strategic blindness threatens to put the Iranian ayatollahs back on a short-term path to a bomb.

— trudy rubin, Philly.com, "Goodbye, Corker; goodbye, Trump Mideast policy | Trudy Rubin," 27 Sep. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'ayatollah.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.