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
From the M-W Editors
Recent Examples of jihad from the Web
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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.
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But Hamza bin Laden is not advocating his father's style of jihad.
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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.
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But Hamza bin Laden is not advocating his father’s style of jihad.
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Some of its is because there are so many other places to wage jihad — like Iraq and Afghanistan.
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.
Origin and Etymology of jihad
Arabic jihād
First Known Use: 1837
Other Religion (Eastern and Other) Terms
Zen, antinomian, avatar, gnosticism, illuminati, ineffable, karma, koan, mantra
JIHAD Defined for English Language Learners
jihad
playDefinition of jihad for English Language Learners
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: a war fought by Muslims to defend or spread their beliefs
Learn More about jihad
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See words that rhyme with jihad Nglish: Translation of jihad for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of jihad for Arabic speakers Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about jihad
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