Iranian
Americannoun
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a native, citizen, or inhabitant of Iran
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a branch of the Indo-European family of languages, divided into West Iranian (including Old Persian, Pahlavi, modern Persian, Kurdish, Baluchi, and Tajik) and East Iranian (including Avestan, Sogdian, Pashto, and Ossetic)
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Also: Persian. Farsi. the modern Persian language
adjective
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relating to, denoting, or characteristic of Iran, its inhabitants, or their language; Persian
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belonging to or relating to the Iranian branch of Indo-European
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of Iranian
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.
See Examples For:
The comments came as transit through Hormuz has dropped significantly, with Iran targeting ships it accuses of skirting its preferred route through Iranian waters.
From Barron's ● Aug. 8, 2026
Reuters - citing an Iranian official - previously reported that Tehran was seeking fees of between 5% and 7% of the price of cargoes from vessels who travel through it.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
But it fell apart amid Iranian attacks on ships aimed at asserting Tehran’s control over the waterway.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026
Test your news knowledge: Between Iranian cyberattacks, wildfires, and the Michigan Democratic Senate primary, a lot has happened this week.
From Slate ● Aug. 7, 2026
With my Iranian passport handy, I was allowed to cast a vote in a country I hadn’t lived in since I was two years old.
From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi
Two of the eight men sentenced in the case were Iranians, alleged by Irish authorities and Interpol to have links to Hezbollah.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026
Vance downplayed those reports, saying: "The Iranians have told us they have no plans to toll the Strait of Hormuz."
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
“The Iranians may be less willing to engage diplomatically because they’ve been burned several times in the past,” she said.
From Salon ● Jul. 23, 2026
The Iranians believed that “Witkoff had meetings with high-level Israelis before and immediately after” he met with them, Mousavian said.
From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2026
It's customary for Iranians to greet each other with a kiss on both cheeks, but American six-year-olds thought no one had taught me about "personal space."
From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi
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.
