shiah
noun
the Shiʿites.
shiah
American
[shee-uh]
/ ˈʃi ə /
Or
Shiʿa
Shiah
British
/ ˈʃiːə /
noun
-
one of the two main branches of Islam (the other being the Sunni), making up a tenth or more of the entire Muslim population, and forming the majority in Iran and Iraq, which regards Mohammed's cousin Ali and his successors as the true imams
-
another name for Shiite
adjective
Etymology
Origin of shiah
First recorded in 1620–30, Shiʿah is from the Arabic word shīʿah literally, sect
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.
I'm very good friends with his eldest son, Shiah, who plays with me now.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 19, 2012
Ali was assassinated near Nejef, which city is sacred to his memory, and his son Husein was killed at Kerbela; so these two cities are the greatest of the Shiah shrines.
From War in the Garden of Eden by Kermit Roosevelt
He had listened to the history of the caliphate; he yearned toward Ali and his family; he became in heart a Shiah.
From The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 09 by Rossiter Johnson
Dreyfus79 confesses: "Looking at the Bab's work, we cannot fail to notice in it a certain sectarian particularism which would have confined to Shiah Islam its benefits."
From Bahaism and Its Claims A Study of the Religion Promulgated by Baha Utlah and Abdul Baha by Samuel Graham Wilson
A good percentage of the inhabitants are Persians, for the eleventh and twelfth Shiah Imams are buried on the site of the largest mosque.
From War in the Garden of Eden by Kermit Roosevelt
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.
