Sarajevo

American  

[sar-uh-yey-voh, sah-rah-ye-vaw] / ˌsær əˈyeɪ voʊ, ˈsɑ rɑ yɛ vɔ /

noun

1. a city in and the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the central part: assassination of the Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand here June 28, 1914, was the final event that precipitated World War I.

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Sarajevo British  

/ ˈsarajɛvɔ /

noun

1. the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina: developed as a Turkish town in the 15th century; capital of the Turkish and Austro-Hungarian administrations in 1850 and 1878 respectively; scene of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914, precipitating World War I; besieged by Bosnian Serbs (1992–95). Pop: 603 000 (2005 est)

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Sarajevo ¹ Cultural  

1. Capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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Sarajevo ² Cultural  

1. The city in Bosnia and Herzegovina where the assassination that brought on World War I took place. Archduke Francis Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of the Austrian Empire, had come to Sarajevo on a state visit; Sarajevo was then in one of the South Slavic provinces of the Austrian Empire. A young student who favored South Slavic independence shot and killed the archduke. Austria held the assassin's home country, Serbia, responsible for the incident and declared war; complex European alliances then brought other countries into the fight.

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Attacked and severely damaged in 1992 by Serbian militia. In 1995, leaders of the rival Balkan states of Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia met in the United States and settled on a peace accord to end the fighting.

The Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand was assassinated there in 1914, which was the immediate cause of World War I. (See under “World History since 1550.”)

Home of the 1982 winter Olympic Games.

In 1992 the city came under prolonged and bloody siege by Bosnian Serbs seeking to drive Bosnian Muslims from their homes. In 1995 leaders of the rival Balkan states of Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia met in the United States and settled on a peace accord to end the fighting.

Example Sentences

The most galling part was that in Zenica, near Sarajevo, on Tuesday, the Italians had scored first.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 1, 2026

Sarajevo suffers from the worst air quality of any major city in the world for a second day straight, data shows, as Bosnian authorities issue an alert for the choked capital.

From Barron's • Jan. 23, 2026

He went on to open an international film school in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, known as film.factory, which continued until 2017, and he produced a number of movies.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 8, 2026

I’ve learned that, by God’s grace, what I thought was an extraordinary phenomenon 30 years ago around that table near Sarajevo turns out to be the most common thing in the world.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 27, 2025

It made me wonder what would have happened to Zlata if she would have stayed in Sarajevo.

From "The Freedom Writers Diary" by The Freedom Writers