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  • Satyagraha
    Satyagraha
    noun
    (in India) the policy of passive resistance inaugurated by Mohandas Gandhi in 1919 as a method of gaining political and social reforms.
  • satyagraha
    satyagraha
    noun
    the policy of nonviolent resistance adopted by Mahatma Gandhi from about 1919 to oppose British rule in India

Satyagraha

American  
[suht-yuh-gruh-huh, suht-yah-gruh-] / ˈsʌt jəˌgrʌ hə, sətˈjɑ grə- /

noun

(sometimes lowercase)
  1. (in India) the policy of passive resistance inaugurated by Mohandas Gandhi in 1919 as a method of gaining political and social reforms.


satyagraha British  
/ ˈsɔːtjɑːɡrɔːhɑː /

noun

  1. the policy of nonviolent resistance adopted by Mahatma Gandhi from about 1919 to oppose British rule in India

  2. any movement of nonviolent resistance

"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 Satyagraha

1915–20; < Hindi, equivalent to Sanskrit satya truth + āgraha strong attachment, persistence


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:

It was on a ministry mission to India in the ’50s that Lawson learned about Satyagraha, the method of resistance through nonviolence, developed by Mahatma Gandhi.

From Slate ● Dec. 22, 2020

Satyagraha, which presumed a basic commitment to dialogue on all sides, was likely to be impotent against Nazism or any other genocidal ideology.

From The New Yorker ● Oct. 15, 2018

Satyagraha LA Opera mounts the Philip Glass opera about Indian activist Mahatma Gandhi’s years as a young attorney in turn-of-the-last-century South Africa; Grant Gershon conducts.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2018

When all the elements and the singers are balanced, like in the superb Carsen Onegin, or the recent Satyagraha, we are in for true magic.

From New York Times ● Dec. 28, 2017

A fire was lit in a giant iron cauldron, and the certificates of 2,300 Indians were tossed into the flames—the first major act of Satyagraha.

From "Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science" by Marc Aronson

Sakshi Malik has not hesitated to compare their marches with those of Mahatma Gandhi’s nonviolent anti-colonialism, labeling their struggle as a form of satyagraha.

From Slate ● Jun. 11, 2023

Rather, Guha’s chosen subjects in “Rebels Against the Raj” were mainly inspired by Gandhi’s nonviolent satyagraha protests.

From New York Times ● Feb. 25, 2022

Gandhi claimed that those engaged in satyagraha were “true warriors,” fearless enough to never resort to arms—as opposed to the cowards driven by fear to violence.

From The New Yorker ● Oct. 15, 2018

When the party voted to approve the "Quit India" resolution, demanding immediate independence and launching a satyagraha civil-disobedience campaign in support of that goal, the British responded by going after Gandhi.

From Time ● Aug. 9, 2017

A central element of Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence was called satyagraha, often translated as “soul-force” or “truth-force.”

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2012

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