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ayatollah

ayatollah

noun ah-yah-TOL-lah Rare

Origin: From Arabic āyat Allāh (sign of God).

Usage Note

Ayatollah is a high-ranking Shia Muslim religious title and is used in Italian in both its strict sense and figuratively to describe any dogmatic authority figure. It is an invariable loanword: gli ayatollah. The stress falls on the third syllable.

Examples

"L'ayatollah ha rilasciato una dichiarazione ufficiale."

Natural Translation

The ayatollah issued an official statement.

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