Dharna
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A sit-in. India, countable, uncountable
"ln December 1974, Morarji Desai, gave a threat of staging a dharna inside the Lok Sabha chamber. ln June 1975, Morarji Deshmukh, the Jana Sangh leader, stated that there had to be a Delhi Bandh to compel the Prime Minister to resign."
- 2 A fast undertaken at the door of an offender, especially a debtor. India, countable, specifically, uncountable
"[…] house-tax having been imposed on the natives during Lord Minto's government […] the Brahmins resolved to try the virtue of a dharna; […] The local government was exceedingly perplexed; for, besides the risk of hundreds perishing, there was the certainty of a famine, from the cessation of agricultural labour if the dharna continued."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"ln December 1974, Morarji Desai, gave a threat of staging a dharna inside the Lok Sabha chamber. ln June 1975, Morarji Deshmukh, the Jana Sangh leader, stated that there had to be a Delhi Bandh to compel the Prime Minister to resign."
Etymology
Borrowed from Hindi धरना (dharnā).
Related phrases
More for "dharna"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.