Shi'a
name, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Synonym of Shiite.
- 1 Shi'a Islam. usually
"In Islam, Sunni is a more triumphant version of the faith than Shia, which stresses the importance of suffering, following the founder Ali, who was persecuted."
- 2 The followers of this branch of Islam; the Shiites. collective
"Throughout the Umayyad period, the Shi'a were confined to southern 'Iraq [...]"
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"In Islam, Sunni is a more triumphant version of the faith than Shia, which stresses the importance of suffering, following the founder Ali, who was persecuted."
Etymology
From Arabic شِيعَة (šīʕa, “sect, faction, party; [collectively] followers, partisans”), as the word has been used in شِيعَة عَلِيّ (šīʕat ʕalī, “the faction of Ali; [collectively] the followers of Ali”) or الشِّيعَة (aš-šīʕa, “the Faction; the Followers”).
Related phrases
More for "shi'a"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.