jihad

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noun ji·had \ji-ˈhäd, chiefly British -ˈhad\

variants: or less commonly

jehad

Definition of jihad

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

See jihad defined for English-language learners

Recent Examples of jihad from the Web

Prosecutors presented evidence at the trial that Pugh traveled from Egypt to Turkey in an attempt to cross into Syria to join ISIS for jihad, the news release says.

— lauren del valle, CNN, "US Air Force vet gets 35 years prison for trying to join ISIS", 31 May 2017
But Hamza bin Laden is not advocating his father's style of jihad.

— the washington post, NOLA.com, "Al-Qaida tries comeback with bin Laden son as mouthpiece", 27 May 2017
Muammar el-Qaddafi, Libya’s leader at the time, and a personal jihad against that dictatorship, which in turn shook up his children’s world.

— katrin bennhold, stephen castle and declan walsh, New York Times, "‘Forgive Me’: Manchester Bomber’s Tangled Path of Conflict and Rebellion", 27 May 2017
But Hamza bin Laden is not advocating his father’s style of jihad.

— joby warrick, Washington Post, "Bin Laden’s son steps into father’s shoes as al-Qaeda attempts a comeback", 27 May 2017
Some of its is because there are so many other places to wage jihad — like Iraq and Afghanistan.

— noah shachtman, WIRED, "Terrorists Hate Commuting", 14 Oct. 2008

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