ayatollah
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of ayatollah
1975–80; < Persian < Arabic āyat allāh sign of God; cf. Allah
Vocabulary lists containing ayatollah
The Middle East and Central Asia - Middle School
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The Middle East and Central Asia - High School
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Muslim Empires and the Middle East - High School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader since 1989, was killed on the first day of the war in February.
From BBC • Apr. 23, 2026
In the abstract, the pope’s words might apply to any number of leaders, including Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 6, 2026
Social media users have falsely accused leading media organizations such as the New York Times of publishing AI-generated conflict images, including one that showed a large crowd in Tehran celebrating the new Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.
From Barron's • Apr. 2, 2026
He was born in 1961 in Torghabeh, near Mashhad, a city of religious importance in Iran’s northeast and the hometown of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 25, 2026
And Hossein said, “Okay. Sohrab and Ayatollah pick first.”
From "Darius the Great Is Not Okay" by Adib Khorram
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.
