jihad
noun
ji·had ji-ˈhäd 
chiefly British -ˈhad
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
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web The Qaeda leader released a video in May speaking about the importance of jihad in Kashmir. 
New York Times, 1 Aug. 2022 There is no doubt that al-Zawahri was the leader of a terrorist movement whose global jihad has killed thousands of people. Charlie Savage, BostonGlobe.com, 8 Aug. 2022 After encountering bin Laden in Pakistan and Afghanistan during the war on invading Soviet troops in the 1980s, Zawahiri gradually shifted his focus to global jihad. Jared Malsin, WSJ, 2 Aug. 2022 Then came jihad and Islamic terrorism, right up to the pandemic at the end of 2019. Anna Zanardi Cappon, Forbes, 21 Apr. 2022 Despite its mention of jihad, and its suggestion of a broader conspiracy, its most detailed section focusses on an employment dispute at a primary school, among four teaching assistants and a principal. Sarah Larson, The New Yorker, 20 Mar. 2022 Where the Kandahar faction began as an insular, rural force, primarily concerned with ruling its home turf, the Haqqanis were interested in global jihad. Jon Lee Anderson, The New Yorker, 21 Feb. 2022 Not only did the attacks fail to damage the United States and its allies in any fundamental way, the targets of their jihad seemed as strong as ever. Kevin O’kelly, The Christian Science Monitor, 25 Feb. 2022 For those of us who, eight years before 9/11, started battling against the jihad in our earnest but inadequate way, there is no avoiding a profound sense of failure. Andrew C. Mccarthy, National Review, 11 Sep. 2021 See More
New York Times, 1 Aug. 2022 There is no doubt that al-Zawahri was the leader of a terrorist movement whose global jihad has killed thousands of people. Charlie Savage, BostonGlobe.com, 8 Aug. 2022 After encountering bin Laden in Pakistan and Afghanistan during the war on invading Soviet troops in the 1980s, Zawahiri gradually shifted his focus to global jihad. Jared Malsin, WSJ, 2 Aug. 2022 Then came jihad and Islamic terrorism, right up to the pandemic at the end of 2019. Anna Zanardi Cappon, Forbes, 21 Apr. 2022 Despite its mention of jihad, and its suggestion of a broader conspiracy, its most detailed section focusses on an employment dispute at a primary school, among four teaching assistants and a principal. Sarah Larson, The New Yorker, 20 Mar. 2022 Where the Kandahar faction began as an insular, rural force, primarily concerned with ruling its home turf, the Haqqanis were interested in global jihad. Jon Lee Anderson, The New Yorker, 21 Feb. 2022 Not only did the attacks fail to damage the United States and its allies in any fundamental way, the targets of their jihad seemed as strong as ever. Kevin O’kelly, The Christian Science Monitor, 25 Feb. 2022 For those of us who, eight years before 9/11, started battling against the jihad in our earnest but inadequate way, there is no avoiding a profound sense of failure. Andrew C. Mccarthy, National Review, 11 Sep. 2021 See More Word History
Etymology
Arabic jihād
First Known Use
1837, in the meaning defined at sense 1