ayatollah
noun
aya·tol·lah
| \ ËÄ«-É-ËtĆ-lÉ
, -ËtĂ€-, -ËtÉ-, ËÄ«-É-Ë
\
, -ËtĂ€-, -ËtÉ-, ËÄ«-É-Ë
\
Definition of ayatollah
: a religious leader among Shiite Muslims
—used as a title of respect especially for one who is not an imam
Examples of ayatollah in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Iraq is a shambles, having exchanged its domination by Iraqi socialists for domination by Iranian ayatollahs. — Kevin D. Williamson, National Review, "The Age of Miscalculation," 19 Aug. 2019 The feature, then, would not have been used in the Khamenei incident earlier this year; the account, @khamenei_ir, while long believed to belong to the ayatollah or his office, is not verified. — Paris Martineau, WIRED, "Twitter Will Quarantine Politiciansâ Tweets If They Violate RulesâFinally," 27 June 2019 However, when announcing the sanctions, Trump referred to the wrong ayatollah. — Nicholas Wu, USA TODAY, "Trump appears to name the wrong Iranian leader when announcing sanctions on Iran," 24 June 2019 The ayatollahs, who fostered and protected the countryâs transition to democracy, increasingly sound like an opposition. — The Economist, "Iraqi voters are fed up with the old guard," 10 May 2018 And, after America and its alliesâ and convoy partnersâ strictly defensive reaction to Iranâs recent actions, any further hostility by the ayatollahs will confirm them as total belligerents who made force necessary. — Deroy Murdock, National Review, "Trump Should Assemble a Multinational Naval Convoy," 28 June 2019 The feature, then, would not have been used in the Khamenei incident earlier this year; the account, @khamenei_ir, while long believed to belong to the ayatollah or his office, is not verified. — Paris Martineau, WIRED, "Twitter Will Quarantine Politiciansâ Tweets If They Violate RulesâFinally," 27 June 2019 Against formidable odds, U.S. officials managed to keep the prominent Shia ayatollah Ali al-Sistani from urging his followers to violently oppose the American occupation, which would have made matters in Iraq vastly worse. — Hal Brands, National Review, "Lessons from the Iraq War," 20 June 2019 Yet the ayatollahs were clandestinely cooperating with the Jewish state, the enemy of Tehranâs Iraqi enemy. — Eliora Katz, WSJ, "Iranians Are Now Chanting âDeath to Palestineâ," 13 July 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'ayatollah.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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