intifada

noun

in·​ti·​fa·​da ˌin-tə-ˈfä-də 

plural intifadas

: uprising, rebellion

specifically : an armed uprising of Palestinians against Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip

I was a college student at Tufts University in December 1987, when the first Palestinian intifada began.

—Hady Amr

… in 2000, the second intifada struck with the force of an earthquake. As Palestinians fought Israeli troops, the West Bank became all but ungovernable.

—Karen E. Lange

Examples of intifada in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

By 2001, the second intifada had erupted, and the Israeli military rendered the new Gaza airport unusable. —Jane Harman, TIME, 9 Feb. 2025

Held responsible for a string of deadly attacks during the second intifada, the men were handed multiple life sentences in 2002. —Isabel Debre, Chicago Tribune, 8 Feb. 2025

Through it all—elections, intifadas, attacks—Gaza’s engineers kept the system running. —Claudine Ebeid, The Atlantic, 6 Feb. 2025

Inside were 33 prisoners, many of whom had been arrested by Israel for their activities during the second intifada more than two decades ago. —Ghada Abdulfattah, The Christian Science Monitor, 3 Feb. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Arabic intifāḍa, literally, the act of shaking off

First Known Use

1985, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

intifada

noun

in·​ti·​fa·​da ˌint-ə-ˈfäd-ə 

: uprising, rebellion

Etymology

Arabic intifāda, literally, "the act of shaking off"