imam en · NOUN
Pronunciation
Etymology
Borrowed from Arabic إِمَام (ʔimām, “leader”).
Meanings
-
One who leads the salat prayers in a mosque.
But then there's a Christian cleric and an imam on each of the country's three regional censorship boards, in Kaduna, Lagos and Onitsha, although more than one producer told me that the brown envelope worked the same magic here as in any other Nigerian Government department.
2001 May 10, London Review of Books:Sheik Mohammad Seyed Tantawi, Egypt’s highest-ranking imam, led the prayers over the coffin, covered with an Egyptian flag.
2007 April 10, Howard Blum, “Who Killed Ashraf Marwan?”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 26 Apr 2023, retrieved 18 Sep 2015:The critically low level of rainfall in the second half of 2020 – approaching 50% year on year for November – led the religious affairs directorate to instruct imams and their congregations to pray for rain last month.
2021 January 13, Bethan McKernan, “Turkey drought: Istanbul could run out of water in 45 days”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 27 Aug 2025:In the 1980s, roughly six hundred young Algerian men, many of them protégés of Muslim Brothers from Egypt and Wahhabi imams from Saudi Arabia, went to Afghanistan to join the anti-Soviet jihad.
2004 October 7, London Review of Books, page 3:Now it chanced that in one of the mosques was an Imam. (footnote: The person specially appointed to lead the prayers of the congregation and paid out of the endowed revenues of the mosque to which he is attached)
1901, John Payne, Alaeddin and the Enchanted Lamp:
- (capitalized, usually) A Shi'ite Muslim leader descended from the prophet Muhammad and functioning as his spiritual successor.
- (capitalized, usually) A Shi'ite Muslim leader descended from the prophet Muhammad and functioning as his spiritual successor. ▸ One of the Twelve imams, descendants of Muhammad from the seventh to ninth centuries CE who lived exemplary lives.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| iman | alternative, archaic | lexicographic | |
| imaum | alternative, archaic | lexicographic | |
| imams | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Deriveds
imamic · imam bayildi · imamship · imamate
Hypernyms
Translations (97)
el ιμάμης (Muslim leader) · pt imã (Muslim leader) · dv އިމާމް (Muslim leader) · th อิหม่าม (Muslim leader) · ml ഇമാം (Muslim leader) · et imaam (Muslim leader) · hy իմամ (Muslim leader) · es imán (Muslim leader) · uz oxund (Muslim leader) · ja イマーム (Muslim leader) · cmn 阿訇 (Muslim leader) · prs آخُونْد (Muslim leader) · ca imam (Muslim leader) · dng ахун (Muslim leader) · tk imam (Muslim leader) · am ኢማም (Muslim leader) · min imam (Muslim leader) · af imaam (Muslim leader) · fr imam (Muslim leader) · crh imam (Muslim leader) · te ఇమామ్ (Muslim leader) · nb imam (Muslim leader) · ga iomám (Muslim leader) · ba имам (Muslim leader) · af imam (Muslim leader) · km អ៊ីម៉ាម (Muslim leader) · yo lèmọ́mù (Muslim leader) · cmn 伊瑪目 /伊玛目 (Muslim leader) · ce имам (Muslim leader) · mk и́мам (Muslim leader) · pl imam (Muslim leader) · tr imam (Muslim leader) · ha liman (Muslim leader) · ms imam (Muslim leader) · ko 이맘 (Muslim leader) · kk имам (Muslim leader) · sq imam (Muslim leader) · sh ìmām (Muslim leader) · id imam (Muslim leader) · ur اِمام (Muslim leader) · tg имом (Muslim leader) · da imam (Muslim leader) · prs اِمَام (Muslim leader) · ug ئىمام (Muslim leader) · be іма́м (Muslim leader) · yo ìmáàmù (Muslim leader) · ckb مەلا (Muslim leader) · az има́м (Muslim leader) · syc ܐܝܡܡ (Muslim leader) · lt imamas (Muslim leader) · fi imaami (Muslim leader) · ro imam (Muslim leader) · cy imâm (Muslim leader) · yi אימאַם (Muslim leader) · pt imame (Muslim leader) · ug ئاخۇن (Muslim leader) · lv imāms (Muslim leader) · mrw imam (Muslim leader) · ar إِمَام (Muslim leader) · tg охунд (Muslim leader) · ru има́м (Muslim leader) · ur آخُونْد (Muslim leader) · tt имам (Muslim leader) · fa-ira اِمام (Muslim leader) · cmn 教長 /教长 (Muslim leader) · nl imam (Muslim leader) · sh ѝма̄м (Muslim leader) · slr aqunbo (Muslim leader) · yo afaa (Muslim leader) · ta இமாம் (Muslim leader) · ky имам (Muslim leader) · fa-ira آخونْد (Muslim leader) · slr aqun (Muslim leader) · az imam (Muslim leader) · cs imám (Muslim leader) · yo alufaa (Muslim leader) · eo imamo (Muslim leader) · bg има́м (Muslim leader) · uk іма́м (Muslim leader) · hi इमाम (Muslim leader) · syl ꠁꠝꠣꠝ (Muslim leader) · uz imom (Muslim leader) · it imam (Muslim leader) · ps امام (Muslim leader) · ka იმამი (Muslim leader) · ota امام (Muslim leader) · sgs imams (Muslim leader) · ti ኢማም (Muslim leader) · bn ইমাম (Muslim leader) · hu imám (Muslim leader) · kmr mela (Muslim leader) · ckb پێشنوێژ (Muslim leader) · sw imamu (Muslim leader) · de Imam (Muslim leader) · sv imam (Muslim leader) · rhg imam (Muslim leader) · he אִימָאם (Muslim leader)