First recorded in 1615–25; from Arabic qur'ān “reading, recitation,” from qara'a “to read, recite”
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In the wholesale markets of Yiwu, the Chinese city known for supplying the world with inexpensive goods, buyers can find prayer rugs, Quran stands, modest clothing, Ramadan lanterns and crescent-shaped decorations.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 12, 2026
He urged people to stay calm and go about their business "without any worries" and quoted from the Quran: "And Allah sent down His tranquility upon His Messenger and upon the believers."
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
Shahabi was born into a deeply religious Muslim family and served as a Quran teacher in Iran.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 4, 2026
In the next gallery, a 15th-century Quran was displayed alongside a North African Torah and Coptic Christian Bible.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 14, 2026
The first prostration, I prayed the Quran verse “Say He is God, the one and only”; the second prostration: “Say O you who are unbelievers, I worship not that which you worship. ...”
From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey
It’s something that Muslims do the world over, in line with the teachings of the Qur'an, Islam’s holy book.
From BBC ● Feb. 25, 2024
A double-page spread from a Qur’an, handwritten on blush-pink paper, is in Arabic.
From New York Times ● Feb. 3, 2022
Later that day, after returning from a shower, McAvoy entered his cell to find the Qur'an, a packet of Weetabix and some UHT milk on his bed.
From BBC ● Oct. 22, 2020
He had fled for his life from Afghanistan after accidentally damaging a Qur’an.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 3, 2020
But she learned that there were Shiite and Sunni interpretations of the Qur’an, and within any mosque there were the same variations in faith and commitment as there were in any church.
From "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers
“This applies both to the burning of Qurans and other religious symbols. It has no other purpose than to provoke and create division.”
From Washington Times ● Jul. 22, 2023
At his headquarters, the Islamic Cultural Center of Lviv, a display case exhibits faded old Qurans carried by Crimean Tatars, Muslims who were forcibly deported in 1944 during a Soviet ethnic cleansing campaign.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 28, 2022
On arrival they found texts which included early Qurans and some with diverse topics including astronomy, maths and geography.
From BBC ● Mar. 10, 2022
“We like Thailand, Vietnam and Turkey: Turkey because you could not buy and take away old Qurans because they are antiquities. So all we could buy was fabric.”
From New York Times ● Jan. 30, 2019
“But there are Qurans here in your home.”
From "Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Changed the World" by Malala Yousafzai
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
