hartal

American

[hahr-tahl] / hɑrˈtɑl /

noun

(in India) a closing of shops and stopping of work, especially as a form of passive resistance.

hartal British

/ hɑːˈtɑːl /

noun

(in India) the act of closing shops or suspending work, esp in political protest

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of hartal

1915–20; < Hindi harṭal, variant of haṭṭāl, equivalent to hat shop ( Sanskrit haṭṭa ) + tāl locking ( Sanskrit tālāka lock, bolt)

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.

In response, the Indian National Congress resolved to welcome the prince to Bombay with a hartal or strike, and bonfires of foreign-made cloth, a symbol of Britain's economic imperialism.

From BBC • Nov. 18, 2021

It came up on a nation-wide one-day hartal or "passive halting of work" ordered by the Indian National Congress.

From Time Magazine Archive

India's editors stood it as long as they could, in late December decided to stage last week's hartal.

From Time Magazine Archive

Comfort for Britons lay in the small success achieved by Swarajist leaders, last week, in organizing a hartal or "strike in mourning" against the Commission.

From Time Magazine Archive

Now there will be hartal again; Committee ki ráj.

From Far to Seek A Romance of England and India by Diver, Maud

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023