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''jihad'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260611130856-00-⌔

jihad - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Noun

jihad (countable and uncountable, plural jihads)

  • (Islam) 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.1
    • ✤ 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.2
    • ✤ Still other officials say the mayhem may be partly a result of a vicious rivalry between two Qaeda subcommanders in Mali, Mokhtar Belmokhtar and Abdelhamid Abu Zeid, a clash that underscores the kind of autonomous jihad cells that counterterrorism officials say are particularly hard to combat.3
    • ✤ The Jabhat al-Nusra media, with songs about jihad and martyrdom, is extremely influential.4
  • (Islam, theology) 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.5
  • (by extension) 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.6

Verb

jihad (third-person singular simple present jihads, present participle jihading, simple past and past participle jihaded)

  • (transitive, uncommon) To participate in a jihad.

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic جِهَاد (jihād, “struggle; effort”).

Pronunciation

  • enPR: jĭ-hăd’, jĭ-häd, jə-häd’, jē’-häd, jē’-hăd, IPA: /d͡ʒɪˈhæd/, /d͡ʒɪˈhɑːd/, /d͡ʒəˈhɑːd/, /ˈd͡ʒiːhæd/, /ˈd͡ʒiːhɑːd/
  • Audio (Southern England): 🔊
  • Rhymes: -æd, -ɑːd, -iːhæd, -iːhɑːd

Printed 2026-06-28.

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Footnotes

  1. 1938 August 22, “Holy War”, in Time: ↩

  2. 1977, Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace, New York: Review Books, published 2006, page 26: ↩

  3. 2009 July 10, Eric Schmitt, “Qaeda Branch Steps Up Raids in North Africa”, in The New York Times ‎, archived from the original on 26 January 2021: ↩

  4. 2013 May 8, Mona Mahmood, Ian Black, The Guardian: ↩

  5. 2023 May 3, “Update on Terrorism-Related Case Under Internal Security Act”, in Internal Security Department (Singapore) ‎, archived from the original on 2 April 2025: ↩

  6. 1984, 41:18 from the start, in Dune ‎ (Science Fiction), spoken by Reverend Mother Ramallo, →OCLC: ↩

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