jihad

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

variants: or less commonly jehad

Updated on: 10 May 2018

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

The continuing debate in France between these two explanations for jihad has not been resolved, but real-life incidents consistently throw up more examples of the former than the latter.

— adam nossiter, BostonGlobe.com, "Paris trial shows faltering evolution of a jihadi cell," 14 Apr. 2018
Univision bought the sites for $135 million in a bankruptcy auction that played out in the wake of Hulk Hogan and Peter Thiel’s legal jihad against Gawker founder Nick Denton.

— joe pompeo, The Hive, "“A Complete Shit Show”: As Fusion Media Implodes, Will the Gawker Orphans Hit the Block?," 11 Apr. 2018
Whether through programs to promote democracy or counter violent extremism, both administrations made ample efforts to dissuade Muslims around the world from the path of murderous jihad - but to little avail.

— chicagotribune.com, "Saudi Arabia can win Islam's war of ideas," 16 Mar. 2018
Political disputes were reframed as religious, within a narrative of apocalyptic jihad.

— elisabeth kendall, Washington Post, "What's next for jihadists in Yemen?," 23 Feb. 2018
Scholars see a more ambiguous relationship between Salafism and jihad than the police do.

— adam nossiter, New York Times, "Too Radical for France, a Muslim Clergyman Faces Deportation," 5 Apr. 2018
Dempsey converted from Catholicism to Islam sometime between 2011 and 2013 and was one of the oldest Americans suspecting of turning to jihad this decade, according to the study.

— benjy egel, sacbee, "He was a prison counselor in California before he turned to jihad, FBI says," 13 Feb. 2018
Up next, disturbing news on the jihads in America that almost no one is talking about, not even the bachelor, stay tuned.

— Fox News, "Ingraham: Our collegiate indoctrination factory," 7 Mar. 2018
Although Machan found the term is actually used rather sparingly — similar terms like crusade and jihad appear more frequently — the term has often appeared in popular culture from Shakespeare into the present.

— william cummings, USA TODAY, "So what is this sexual harassment 'reckoning' everyone is talking about?," 17 Jan. 2018

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.