Wahhabi

[wuh-hah-bee, wah-]

noun, plural Wah·ha·bis. Islam.

a follower of ʿAbd al-Wahhab (1703–1792), who stringently opposed all practices not sanctioned by the Koran. The Wahhabis, founded in the 18th century, are the most conservative Muslim group and are today found mainly in Saudi Arabia.

Also Wa·ha·bi, Wah·ha·bee, Wah·ha·bite, Wa·ha·bite

[wuh-hah-bahyt, wah-] /wəˈhɑ baɪt, wɑ-/.

Origin of Wahhabi

1800–10; < Arabic, equivalent to ʿAbd al-Wahhab + -ī suffix of appurtenance

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for wahabi

Contemporary Examples of wahabi

So I'm not scared of Cordoba House, with or without its Wahabi backers.
Why I Love the Mosque
Elizabeth Wurtzel
August 4, 2010

Historical Examples of wahabi

The new Wahabi state was a close counterpart of the Meccan caliphate.
The New World of Islam
Lothrop Stoddard
Why should he answer to a Mahratta laonee if he be Wahabi—or Sikh?'
Soldiers Three
Rudyard Kipling
He was first ordered to quell the Wahabi insurrection in Arabia, and his campaign there is alluded to in chap.
Eothen
A. W. Kinglake
Coffee-shops take the place of spirit and wine shops, which in the strict Wahabi country would not be, for a moment, tolerated.
Southern Arabia
Theodore Bent
Most of them, if not actually belonging to that strict sect of Arabians known as Wahabi, have strong puritanical proclivities.
Southern Arabia
Theodore Bent

British Dictionary definitions for wahabi

Wahhabi

Wahabi

noun plural -bis

a member of a strictly conservative Muslim sect founded in the 18th century with the aim of eliminating all innovations later than the 3rd century of Islam

Derived FormsWahhabism or Wahabism, noun

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

Word Origin and History for wahabi

Wahabi

1807, follower of Islamic fundamentalist Abd-el-Wahhab (1691-1787), from his name, with Arabic genitive suffix -i.