Definition of INFIDEL

Examples of infidel in a Sentence

Noun a holy war against the infidels

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun The video reportedly shows three masked men – with one accusing the Maldives of being run by infidels and threatening follow-up attacks. — Greg Norman | Fox News, Fox News, "Maldives police arrest 3 men in suspected ISIS stabbing attack," 6 Feb. 2020 Altogether, over 6,200 Yazidis, an ancient minority viewed as infidels by the Islamic State, went missing when the militants swept through their ancestral homeland in the Sinjar mountains of northern Iraq in 2014. — Washington Post, "The kidnapped Yazidi children who don’t want to be rescued from ISIS," 14 June 2019 The video reportedly features a masked man flanked by two others wagging his finger at the camera and saying that the Maldives, an island nation in the Indian Ocean, is run by infidels. — Zachary Halaschak, Washington Examiner, "Maldives police arrest suspects after three injured in possible ISIS-linked stabbings," 6 Feb. 2020 An illustration in a 13th-century German psalter, for example, shows a Christian angel using a sword to force infidels into the gate of hell, represented as a monster with a gaping, flaming mouth. — Steven Litt, cleveland.com, "‘Medieval Monsters’ exhibit at Cleveland Museum of Art surveys images used to inspire fear, hatred and wonder," 1 Sep. 2019 Oh God, reward the fighters hitting the infidels and defectors. — Jennifer Williams, Vox, "Osama bin Laden’s son, the “Crown Prince of Terror,” is dead. Or is he?," 1 Aug. 2019 After years of abuse, some have embraced Islam and denounced their own people as infidels. — Isabel Coles And, WSJ, "Nisreen’s Choice: Women Rescued From Islamic State Are Told to Leave Children Behind," 23 Aug. 2018 Even there, respect is hard to find, with wedding guests whispering behind the musicians’ backs, accusing them of being pimps and infidels because over the years of war people started believing music is prohibited in Islam. — Maija Liuhto, Longreads, "A Music So Beautiful the Birds Fell from the Trees," 28 June 2018 My mom was also happy to shed her role as neighborhood infidel. — Sara Eckel, Longreads, "The Hole in My Soul," 1 June 2018 Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective But it is widely believed to have increased support for Islamists such as the Muslim Brotherhood, which believes Islam must be at war with an infidel West. — Max Singer, WSJ, "How the Saudis Can Promote Moderate Islam," 3 Aug. 2017 Al-Binali was at the time reportedly head of the ISIS Research and Fatwa Department, which released a fatwa allowing rape of infidel women around the time of the campaign against the Yazidis and their subsequent enslavement. — Robert Windrem, NBC News, "ISIS Leader Who Approved Sex Slaves Killed By U.S. Airstrike," 2 June 2017 They were forced by the Hisbah to stand up in mosques and public squares, in front of crowds, and declare their regret for having enforced the laws of the infidel government. — National Geographic, "Surviving the Fall of ISIS," 17 Oct. 2016

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

History and Etymology for infidel

Noun

borrowed from Middle French & Medieval Latin; Middle French infidele, borrowed from Medieval Latin infidēlis, noun derivative of Late Latin infidēlis "unbelieving" — more at infidel entry 2

Adjective

Middle English infidele "non-Christian," borrowed from Middle French & Late Latin; Middle French, borrowed from Late Latin infidēlis "unbelieving," going back to Latin, "not keeping faith, disloyal," from in- in- entry 1 + fidēlis "faithful, loyal, trustworthy" — more at fidelity

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