imamate

noun

imam·​ate i-ˈmä-ˌmāt How to pronounce imamate (audio)
ē-, 
-ˈma- How to pronounce imamate (audio)
variants often Imamate
1
: the office of an imam
2
: the region or country ruled over by an imam

Examples of imamate in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Yemen was ruled by a Zaydi imamate for 1,000 years, until it was overthrown in 1962. — Alexander Smith, NBC News, 4 Feb. 2024 Their aim was to stop the northern imamate, which followed a Shia version of Islam known as Zaydi, from encroaching. — The Economist, 1 Feb. 2018 The subsequent rift ran across the entire Ismaili community, with the Persian branch under Hasan’s leadership upholding Nizar’s rights to the imamate. — Nicholas Liu, Smithsonian Magazine, 10 Oct. 2023 That conflict pitted Cairo’s modern Army against determined tribesmen, the forefathers of the Houthis, who resented the intrusion of a foreign power and wanted a return to the imamate. — Nicolas Niarchos, The New Yorker, 31 Jan. 2024 Wednesday, a Montgomery County Jail jail imamate who was being treated at Miami Valley hospital was able to get the security guard's weapon. — Brook Endale, The Enquirer, 2 June 2022 During her lifetime, the Abbasid dynasty rose to power in Baghdad and quickly sought to curtail the imamate’s popularity because many Muslims viewed Ali’s family as the only legitimate rulers. — Mary Thurlkill, The Conversation, 30 Mar. 2026 The imamate was previously incarcerated at the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution. — Seamus McAvoy, courant.com, 24 Nov. 2021 In 1962, Yemeni revolutionaries overthrew the country’s centuries-old Zaydi Shia imamate to found the Yemen Arab Republic, an Arab Nationalist state, in the northwestern half of present-day Yemen. — Asher Orkaby, Foreign Affairs, 11 July 2023

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1741, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of imamate was circa 1741

Rhymes for imamate

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Browse Nearby Words

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imamate
Imami
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Cite this Entry

“Imamate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/imamate. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.

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