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ji·had·ist | \ ji-ˈhä-dist 
, chiefly British -ˈha- \
, chiefly British -ˈha- \Definition of jihadist
: a Muslim who advocates or participates in a jihad
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Examples of jihadist in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web In September, the think tank Globsec examined in detail the cases of more than 300 European jihadists implicated in terrorism in a single year, 2015.
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Paul Cruickshank And Tim Lister, CNN, "Hundreds of former jihadis are set to be freed from jail. London terror attack shows the risks," 1 Dec. 2019 Events unfold from the perspective of a young woman, one of three jihadists who target a public appearance by a cartoonist famous for obscene cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.
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Julian Lucas, Harper's magazine, "New Books," 25 Nov. 2019 But the jihadist movement is not strong enough to retake and run Syria’s oil fields, U.S. officials and Middle East experts told me.
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Robin Wright, The New Yorker, "Trump’s Baffling Plan to Pillage Syria’s Oil," 30 Oct. 2019 But there are indications the self-confidence of the jihadists is increasing.
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Alicia Prager, Quartz Africa, "The fight against Nigeria’s northeast terrorism is also a battle against climate change," 18 Oct. 2019 Their presence there has stoked animosity and deadly violence between ethnic groups amid suspicions of supporting the jihadists.
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Baba Ahmed, San Diego Union-Tribune, "UN peacekeeper killed, 5 others seriously wounded in Mali," 7 Oct. 2019 When the Obama administration backed another of his enemies, the Syrian Kurds, against the jihadists, Mr Erdogan looked for other ways to hit back.
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The Economist, "The strange love-in between Donald Trump and Recep Tayyip Erdogan," 14 Nov. 2019 Turkey has used Syrian opposition fighters, which include former jihadists, as shock troops for much of the fighting.
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BostonGlobe.com, "‘‘We know that terrorists are present within the limits of the safe zone we have designated with both sides,’’ Erdogan said. ‘‘They cannot deceive us by saying ‘we have taken the terrorists out of these places, we have cleared them of terrorists.’ ’’," 6 Nov. 2019 There was no immediate claim of responsibility, though jihadists with links to the Islamic State group are active in the area.
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SFChronicle.com, "News of the Day From Across the World, Nov. 2," 2 Nov. 2019
See MoreThese example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'jihadist.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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Time Traveler for jihadist
The first known use of jihadist was in 1967
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