variants
or less commonly jehad
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
Examples of jihad in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Early one October morning in 2018, Sharma got a call from an informant reporting a love jihad emergency.
—
Mohammad Ali, WIRED, 14 Apr. 2020
The decision to disband the organization, said Jones, was likely driven by several factors, including the influence of intellectuals within JI who were less interested in violent jihad, and a cost-benefit analysis on the best way to protect the group’s biggest assets – its schools.
—Reuters, CNN, 5 July 2024
Thinking of modern jihad as simply a cultural extension of Islam is a common, and unfortunate, mistake.
—Foreign Affairs, 10 June 2024
Their scholars justified killing captives and civilians as necessary and legitimate in the jihad against foreign occupation.
—Matthieu Aikins Victor J. Blue Peter Ganim Krish Seenivasan Steven Szczesniak, New York Times, 22 May 2024
See all Example Sentences for jihad 
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Mohammad Ali, WIRED, 14 Apr. 2020
The decision to disband the organization, said Jones, was likely driven by several factors, including the influence of intellectuals within JI who were less interested in violent jihad, and a cost-benefit analysis on the best way to protect the group’s biggest assets – its schools.
—Reuters, CNN, 5 July 2024
Thinking of modern jihad as simply a cultural extension of Islam is a common, and unfortunate, mistake.
—Foreign Affairs, 10 June 2024
Their scholars justified killing captives and civilians as necessary and legitimate in the jihad against foreign occupation.
—Matthieu Aikins Victor J. Blue Peter Ganim Krish Seenivasan Steven Szczesniak, New York Times, 22 May 2024
See all Example Sentences for jihad
Dictionary Entries Near jihad
Cite this Entry
“Jihad.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jihad. Accessed 21 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share