crusade
/kɹuːˈseɪd//kɹuˈseɪd/
crusade noun: any of the Papally-endorsed military expeditions undertaken by the Christians of Latin Europe in the 11th to 13th centuries to reconquer the Levant from the Muslims, as well as expeditions along the Baltic Sea and against the Cathars.
Noun (1)
crusade (plural crusades)
- Any of the Papally-endorsed military expeditions undertaken by the Christians of Latin Europe in the 11th to 13th centuries to reconquer the Levant from the Muslims, as well as expeditions along the Baltic Sea and against the Cathars.
- During the crusades, many Muslims and Christians and Jews were slaughtered.
- Their way lay through the hall, where hung the helm of many a bold forefather, and arms that had seen service even in the crusades.1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “Arrived at Home”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 87
- Any war instigated and blessed by the Church for alleged religious ends, (especially) papal-sanctioned military campaigns against infidels or heretics.
- A grand, concerted effort towards some purportedly worthy cause.
- a crusade against drug abuse
- A mass gathering in a political campaign or during a religious revival effort.
- The same period that has seen social and political crusades increasingly replace religious messages in the pulpits has seen a sharp 35 percent decline in membership of the mainline Protestant denominations associated with the National Council of Churches.1994, Richard Nixon, “America Beyond Peace”, in Beyond Peace, New York: Random House, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 239
- A Portuguese coin; a crusado.
Verb
crusade (third-person singular simple present crusades, present participle crusading, simple past and past participle crusaded)
- To go on a military crusade.
- To make a grand concerted effort toward some purportedly worthy cause.
- He crusaded against similar injustices for the rest of his life.
Noun (2) capitalized: Crusade
Crusade (plural Crusades)
crusade meaning in Tamil, Marathi, Urdu and Bengali
crusade in Tamil
- அறப்போர், தர்மயுத்தம், தீவிர இயக்கம், சிலுவைப் போர், கிறித்தவ சமயப்போர்
crusade in Marathi
- क्रुसेड, क्रूसेड
crusade in Urdu
- صلیبی جنگ
crusade in Bengali
- ধর্মযুদ্ধ, ক্রুসেড, আন্দোলন
More languagesFewer languages
- crusade in Telugu
- క్రూసేడ్, క్రుసేడ్
- crusade in Malayalam
- കുരിശുയുദ്ധം
- crusade in Kannada
- ಧಾರ್ಮಿಕಯುದ್ಧ, ಧರ್ಮಯುದ್ಧ, ಸುಧಾರಣಾ ಚಳವಳಿ, ಚಳವಳಿಯನ್ನು ಕೈಗೊಳ್ಳು
- crusade in Punjabi
- ਕਰੂਸੇਡ, ਕਰੂਸੇਡ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ
- crusade in Gujarati
- ક્રૂસેડ, ક્રુસેડ
- crusade in Odia
- କ୍ରୁସେଡ୍, କ୍ରୁସେଡ, କ୍ରୁସେଡ଼
- crusade in Nepali
- क्रुसेड, क्रूसेड, क्रुसेड गर्न
- crusade in Arabic
- حَمْلَة صَلِيبِيَّة ḥamla ṣalībiyya, حَرْب صَلِيبِيَّة ḥarb ṣalībiyya
Examples of crusade in a sentence
- The king ordered his vassals to join him on the crusade unless they had a written note signed by the archbishop or pope.
- Phil Investigates: Are Schools Secretly Transitioning Your Child?” — in an unswerving crusade against “the woke left.”
- It is clear the Tory party is on an ideological crusade against my industry.
Forms of crusade
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | crusades |
| alternative form | Crusade |
| plural | Crusades |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | crusades |
| present participle | crusading |
| past participle | crusaded |
| past | crusaded |
Origin of crusade
From French croisade, introduced into English (in the French spelling) by 1575. The modern spelling emerges c. 1760,. Middle French croisade is introduced in the 15th century, based on Spanish cruzada (late 14th century) and Old Occitan crozada (early 13th century), both reflecting Medieval Latin cruciāta, cruxiata, the feminine singular of the adjective cruciātus used as an abstract noun. Adjectival cruciātus originally meant "tormented; crucified", but from the 12th century crucesignatus was also used for "marked with a cross; making the sign of the cross" and eventually "taking the cross" in the sense of "going on a crusade". Old Occitan crozada is used in the sense "[the Albigensian] crusade" in the Song of the Albigensian crusade, written c. 1213. From vernacular usage, Middle Latin cruciāta also comes to be used in the sense "crusade" from about 1270.
Capitalised by Mills, The History of the Crusades (1820) when referring to a specific campaign ("The third and fourth Crusades" p. 95) but not when referring to the general concept ("the clergy successfully preached the crusade through all the German state" p. 87). More at crusade.
Words formed from crusade
Phrases with crusade
Words that rhyme with crusade
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- abraid
- blockade
- cade
- fade
- glade
- raid
- upbraid
- abrade
- esplanade
- invade
- lade
- unlaid
- upgrade
- brigade
- brocade
- cavalcade
- colonnade
- displayed
- glissade
- grenade
- paid
- palisade
- unlade
- afraid
- ambuscade
- arcade
- corrade
- degrade
- enfilade
- evade
- jade
- lemonade
- made
- maid
- persuade
- pomade
- spade
- unmade
- aide
- cannonade
- carbonade
- carronade
- clade
- cockade
- Dade
- decayed
- dragonnade
- embayed
Questions about crusade
- What does crusade mean?
- Crusade means any of the Papally-endorsed military expeditions undertaken by the Christians of Latin Europe in the 11th to 13th centuries to reconquer the Levant from the Muslims, as well as expeditions along the Baltic Sea and against the Cathars.
- What is crusade in Tamil?
- Crusade in Tamil is அறப்போர், தர்மயுத்தம், தீவிர இயக்கம். See Crusade meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is crusade?
- Crusade can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce crusade?
- Crusade is pronounced /kɹuːˈseɪd/ (UK).
- What is the plural of crusade?
- The plural of crusade is crusades.
Words near crusade in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: crusade (page history and authors); Crusade (page history and authors); crusade (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); crusade (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); crusade (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); crusade (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); crusade (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); crusade (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); crusade (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); crusade (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); crusade (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); crusade (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); crusade (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-crusade.ogg, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Crusade.wav.
Cite this entry: “crusade.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/crusade. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.