1790–1800; < Hindi rāj < Pali, Prakrit rajja < Sanskrit rājya kingdom, rule
The raj was the period in history when the British Empire ruled over a region of South Asia that includes the modern countries of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. In Hindi, raj means "rule" or "kingdom." Britain's control over the Indian subcontinent during the 19th and 20th centuries was officially known as British India, but it was commonly referred to as "the British Raj" or simply "the Raj." The raj officially began in 1858, and it lasted through 1947 when the region was split into two sovereign states, India and Pakistan. Today the former raj consists of five independent nations.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The nizam juggled between his obligations to the colonial raj and to India’s rising pro-independence leaders Jawaharlal Nehru and Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 4, 2026
Other states provide much less to their panchayati raj and at varying levels each year.
From New York Times ● Mar. 7, 2014
When the license-permit-quota raj was dismantled in the 1990s, it was expected that corruption would diminish.
From Newsweek ● Jun. 12, 2011
Further in, it's the raj of the "Dada log".
From The Guardian ● Mar. 27, 2010
I believe he's almost insane on this idea that he can unite the natives, Mussulmans, Hindus, and Buddhists, against the British raj.
From The Three Sapphires by Fraser, W. A.
McMillon will be joined on the data task force by two economics professors, Raj Chetty of Harvard University and Kevin Murphy of the University of Chicago, who are experts on income inequality.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 9, 2026
Raj Bhakta, a former “Apprentice” contestant, bought the land at a 77% discount to its appraised value shortly after the school closed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
Research by the Harvard University economist Raj Chetty found that among children born in 1940, 90% of them grew up to earn more than their parents.
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026
By comparison, the total illegal profit from the insider-trading scheme masterminded by hedge-fund titan Raj Rajaratnam was $53.8 million.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026
I find myself looking for Raj, but he’s not there.
From "The Fourteenth Goldfish" by Jennifer L. Holm
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.
