jihad
/d͡ʒɪˈhæd/
jihad noun: a holy war undertaken by Muslims.
Noun
jihad (countable and uncountable, plural jihads)
- A holy war undertaken by Muslims.
- Young Iraqis of both sects obeyed the imams' ruling last week by rushing to conscription offices in hot, dirty, dusty Bagdad to offer themselves or their money for the jihad.1938 August 22, “Holy War”, in Time
- Small groups of killers, the scent of blood in their nostrils, now fanned out by taxi, bicycle or even on horseback into the surrounding countryside, spreading the word that a general jihad, or ‘holy war’, had broken out.1977, Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace, New York: Review Books, published 2006, page 26
- A personal spiritual struggle for self-improvement or against evil.
- As a result, Amirull has renounced his radical beliefs in armed jihad and the use of violence. He now sees jihad as caring for his parents, improving himself, and contributing to society.2023 May 3, “Update on Terrorism-Related Case Under Internal Security Act”, in Internal Security Department (Singapore), archived from the original on 02 Apr 2025
- An aggressive campaign for an idea.
- And now, the prophecy. One will come, the voice from the outer world, bringing the holy war, the jihad, which will cleanse the universe and bring us out of darkness.1984, 41:18 from the start, in Dune (Science Fiction), spoken by Reverend Mother Ramallo, →OCLC
Verb
jihad (third-person singular simple present jihads, present participle jihading, simple past and past participle jihaded)
- To participate in a jihad.
jihad meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
jihad in Hindi
- holy war undertaken by Muslims
- जिहाद jihād, जिहाद् jihād
- personal spiritual struggle
- जिहाद jihād, जिहाद् jihād
- aggressive campaign
- जिहाद jihād, जिहाद् jihād
jihad in Tamil
- holy war undertaken by Muslims
- ஜிஹாத் jihāt
jihad in Marathi
- holy war undertaken by Muslims
- जिहाद jihād
jihad in Urdu
- holy war undertaken by Muslims
- جِہاد jihād
More languagesFewer languages
- jihad in Bengali
- জিহাদ jihad
- jihad in Telugu
- జిహాద్, జహాద్, జిహాద్లు
- jihad in Malayalam
- ജിഹാദ്, ജിഹാദിംഗ്, ജിഹാദിങ്
- jihad in Kannada
- ಜಿಹಾದ್, ಜೇಹಾದ್, ಜಿಹಾದ್ನ
- jihad in Punjabi
- ਜਿਹਾਦ jihād
- jihad in Gujarati
- જિહાદ jihād
- jihad in Odia
- ଜିହାଦ, ଜେହାଦ୍, ଜିହାଦ୍
- jihad in Sinhala
- ජිහාඩ් jihāḍ
- jihad in Nepali
- जिहाद, जेहाद, जेहादिङ
- jihad in Pashto
- جهاد jihād
- jihad in Tagalog
- jihad
- jihad in Arabic
- جِهَاد jihād
- jihad in Malay
- jihad
- jihad in Indonesian
- jihad
- jihad in Thai
- ญิฮาด yí-hâat
Forms of jihad
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | jihads |
| alternative form | jehad |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | jihads |
| present participle | jihading |
| past participle | jihaded |
| past | jihaded |
Origin of jihad
Borrowed from Arabic جِهَاد (jihād, “struggle; effort”).
Words formed from jihad
Words that rhyme with jihad
Questions about jihad
- What does jihad mean?
- Jihad means a holy war undertaken by Muslims.
- What is jihad in Hindi?
- Jihad in Hindi is जिहाद (jihād), जिहाद् (jihād). See Jihad meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is jihad?
- Jihad can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce jihad?
- Jihad is pronounced /d͡ʒɪˈhæd/.
- What is the plural of jihad?
- The plural of jihad is jihads.
Words near jihad in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: jihad (page history and authors); jihad (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); jihad (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); jihad (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); jihad (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); jihad (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-jihad.wav.
Cite this entry: “jihad.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/jihad. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.