Word.ws English Dictionary

nakba

Syllables: nak·ba/ˈnɑːkbə//ˈnɑkbə/

nakba noun: in Arab contexts: a catastrophe; a grave setback. Also the alternative letter-case form of Nakba.

Noun

nakba (plural nakbas)

  1. In Arab contexts: a catastrophe; a grave setback.
    • Our President is admitting that the war has been a nakba, a setback. 'I take full personal responsibility.' 'But not for long,' murmurs Mahmoud, in whose company I am watching this ultra-dramatic moment.1998, David Caute, Fatima's scarf, page 280
    • A second nakba happened after the 1967 Six Day War, when Israel captured Arab land that belonged to Jordan and Egypt; another 325,000 Palestinians left their homes.2000, Arab American Voices, page 45

Proper noun capitalized: Nakba

the Nakba

  1. The dispossession of land and other property, destruction of society, and suppression of culture and political rights experienced by Palestinian Arabs occuring since the 1948 Palestine war and establishment of the State of Israel.
    • That al-Husayni [Amin al-Husseini]'s political career has not received balanced and impartial treatment is, of course, not remarkable in view of the passion his name has always inspired. Some Arab biographers have lauded him and his cause, seeking to absolve him of any responsibility for the 1948...1992, Philip Mattar, “An Overview and Assessment”, in The Mufti of Jerusalem: Al-Hajj Amin al-Husayni and the Palestinian National Movement, revised edition, New York, N.Y.: Columbia University...
    • The ongoing Nakba (the Catastrophe) perpetrated by Israel against Palestinians since 1948 is characterized by a new form of Apartheid, including elements of the crime of Apartheid as defined in the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid (Apartheid...2002 January 31 (date received), Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, “Written Statement Submitted by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), a Non-governmental Organization in Special...

Also used as

nakba is also the alternative letter-case form of Nakba.

Forms of nakba

Noun
pluralnakbas
Proper noun
alternative formnakba
alternative formNacba
alternative formNaqba
alternative formAl-Nakba
alternative formAl-Naqba

Origin of nakba

Borrowed from Arabic نَكْبَة (nakba, “disaster, catastrophe”); see further at Nakba.

Borrowed from Arabic النَّكْبَة (an-nakba, “the catastrophe, the disaster”), from نَكَبَ (nakaba, “to make miserable”).

Words formed from nakba

Questions about nakba

What does nakba mean?
Nakba means in Arab contexts: a catastrophe; a grave setback.
What part of speech is nakba?
Nakba can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce nakba?
Nakba is pronounced /ˈnɑːkbə/ (UK).
What is the plural of nakba?
The plural of nakba is nakbas.

Words near nakba in the dictionary

  1. nakauriite
  2. Nakayama
  3. Nakayamas
  4. Nakazawa
  5. Nakazawas
  6. nakba
  7. Nakba Day
  8. nakbas
  9. nake
  10. naked
  11. naked ape

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: nakba (page history and authors); Nakba (page history and authors). 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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-Nakba.wav, En-uk-Nakba.ogg.

Cite this entry: “nakba.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/nakba. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.