Jump To:

• Saddam Hussein
  Saddam Hussein

  noun

  See Hussein
• Hussein, Saddam
  Hussein, Saddam

  Dictator of Iraq who seized power in 1979. With the intent of making Iraq the dominant power in the oil-rich Persian Gulf, Hussein invaded Iran in 1980 and Kuwait in 1990. The latter invasion provoked a military response from the United Nations, led by the United States, which drove Iraqi forces from Kuwait in 1991. (See Persian Gulf War.)

Saddam Hussein

British  

/ sæˈdæm /

noun

1. See Hussein

---

Hussein, Saddam Cultural  

1. Dictator of Iraq who seized power in 1979. With the intent of making Iraq the dominant power in the oil-rich Persian Gulf, Hussein invaded Iran in 1980 and Kuwait in 1990. The latter invasion provoked a military response from the United Nations, led by the United States, which drove Iraqi forces from Kuwait in 1991. (See Persian Gulf War.)

---

Discover More

Although widely loathed outside the Arab world and feared by most Arab governments, Hussein retains some of his appeal to the Arab masses because of his resolute defiance of the United States and western Europe.

Hussein's cruelty and deviousness have become legendary. He has ruthlessly suppressed both Shi'ite Muslims and Kurds within Iraq; in 1987 and 1988 he authorized poison gas attacks on Kurdish villages.

Example Sentences

More recently, a statue of Saddam Hussein famously met the same fate.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 1, 2026

In Iraq, Saddam Hussein built dozens of palaces for top-level Bath party officials, Republican Guard leadership, and members of his family and inner circle.

From Salon • Mar. 24, 2026

On 9 April 2003 a statue of the leader of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, was pulled down in the centre of Baghdad.

From BBC • Mar. 12, 2026

Seven months later, Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait and the pipeline never took off.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 11, 2026

In January 1991, the United States entered the first Gulf War and was going after Saddam Hussein.

From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel