Sunni
Americannoun
-
Also called Sunnite. a member of one of the two great religious divisions of Islam, regarding the first four caliphs as legitimate successors of Muhammad and stressing the importance of Sunna as a basis for law.
-
(used with a plural verb) the Sunni Muslims.
noun
-
one of the two main branches of orthodox Islam (the other being the Shiah), consisting of those who acknowledge the authority of the Sunna
-
another term for Sunnite
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of Sunni
1620–30; < Arabic sunnī, derivative of sunnah Sunna
Compare meaning
How does sunni compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
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.
The leaders of the three majority Sunni Muslim nations signed the agreement at a ceremony in Mecca, home to the holiest site in Islam.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
Most Muslims, however, belong to the Sunni strand of Islam.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 13, 2026
Two thirds of its people are thought to be Muslim – Sunni and Shia populations are relatively equal in size – and a third is Christian.
From BBC ● Apr. 13, 2026
Though much of southern Lebanon is predominantly Shiite, Kfar Chouba and its neighbors comprise a pocket of Christian, Druze and Sunni Muslim communities.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 7, 2026
The makeshift 24th MEU base is a sort of Fort Apache, in the middle of a pretty hostile Iraqi Sunni Muslim population.
From "The World Is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman
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.
