guru

American  

[goor-oo, goo-roo] / ˈgʊər u, gʊˈru /

noun

gurus plural

1. Hinduism. a preceptor giving personal religious instruction.

2. an intellectual or spiritual guide or leader.

3. any person who counsels or advises; mentor.

   The elder senator was her political guru.

4. a leader in a particular field.

   the city's cultural gurus.

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guru British  

/ ˈɡuːruː, ˈɡʊruː /

noun

1. a Hindu or Sikh religious teacher or leader, giving personal spiritual guidance to his disciples

2. derogatory a leader or chief theoretician of a movement, esp a spiritual or religious cult

3. facetious a leading authority in a particular field

   a cricketing guru

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guru Cultural  

1. In Hinduism, a teacher or spiritual leader.

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Discover More

By extension, a “guru” is a teacher who attracts disciples or followers.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• guruship
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• gurus
  plural

Etymology

Origin of guru

1820–30; < Hindi gurū < Sanskrit guru venerable, weighty

Explanation

A guru is a spiritual teacher and leader, particularly in the Hindu and Buddhist traditions. It has been said that your guru will find you when you are ready for your study — your journey — to begin. The noun guru is a Sanskrit word which also means “weighty,” or “grave.” A guru might teach you about meditation and compassion, or how to live your life according to certain precepts and truths. There is also another kind of guru — an expert leader in any field. You can be a guru of accounting or even of pizza-making if you are very good at it and can guide others to greater understanding.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

guru gurus

The vision that bore his name became Auroville in 1968 through the work of his French-born spiritual companion Mirra Alfassa, who herself became a guru known as "The Mother".

From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 2026

“It’s a low probability,” political data guru Paul Mitchell told me, “But there’s always a chance.”

From Los Angeles Times ● May 30, 2026

"And now it's become an exercise in how, if you're lucky often enough, people will think you're a guru."

From BBC ● May 26, 2026

Jonathan Krinsky, technical guru at BTIG, notes that the S&P 500 on Friday closed more than 7% above its 50-day moving average, yet only 52% of the index’s components finished above their own 50-DMAs.

From MarketWatch ● May 11, 2026

“The first thing I told our staff is that we would be in command and out of control,” Van Riper says, echoing the words of the management guru Kevin Kelly.

From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell

Variant was founded in 2009 by the now CIO of asset manger Prevatt Capital, Jonathan Tepper, under a belief that “robust, repeatable tools work better than gurus with crystal balls.”

From MarketWatch ● Mar. 5, 2026

Beauty founder Patrick Starrr, fashion designer Aimee Song and the Home Edit’s organizational gurus Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin are some of DBA’s clients.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 4, 2026

He says he often sees self-proclaimed "fitness gurus" on social media who are encouraging others to reduce their sleep to fit more in, but he believes that's not the answer.

From BBC ● Feb. 21, 2026

His father scoffed at the self-help gurus and nurtured his interest in business.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 15, 2026

This would set off a barrage of laughing commentary from my elder siblings, gurus of life and wisdom who had seen and done it all.

From "The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother" by James McBride

Related Words

• master
• teacher
• tutor