Satyagraha

American  

[suht-yuh-gruh-huh, suht-yah-gruh-] / ˈsʌt yəˌgrʌ hə, sətˈyɑ grə- /

noun

(sometimes lowercase)

1. (in India) the policy of passive resistance inaugurated by Mohandas Gandhi in 1919 as a method of gaining political and social reforms.

---

satyagraha British  

/ ˈsɔːtjɑːɡrɔːhɑː /

noun

1. the policy of nonviolent resistance adopted by Mahatma Gandhi from about 1919 to oppose British rule in India

2. any movement of nonviolent resistance

---

Etymology

Origin of Satyagraha

1915–20; < Hindi, equivalent to Sanskrit satya truth + āgraha strong attachment, persistence

Example Sentences

It was on a ministry mission to India in the ’50s that Lawson learned about Satyagraha, the method of resistance through nonviolence, developed by Mahatma Gandhi.

From Slate • Dec. 22, 2020

Satyagraha LA Opera stages this Philip Glass opera about Gandhi’s years as a young attorney in South Africa.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 2, 2018

Satyagraha, which presumed a basic commitment to dialogue on all sides, was likely to be impotent against Nazism or any other genocidal ideology.

From The New Yorker • Oct. 15, 2018

When all the elements and the singers are balanced, like in the superb Carsen Onegin, or the recent Satyagraha, we are in for true magic.

From New York Times • Dec. 28, 2017

His work done, Gandhi returned to India, where Satyagraha became the most effective weapon in the fight for Indian independence.

From "Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science" by Marc Aronson