How to Use caliphate in a Sentence

caliphate

noun
  • With the fall of Raqqa, this idea of a caliphate is at an end.
    — TIME.com, 26 Oct. 2017
  • The caliphate's destroyed, but there's thousands of fighters over there.
    — Nick Givas, Fox News, 7 Oct. 2019
  • Experts say that some women were indeed taken to the caliphate against their will.
    — New York Times, 27 July 2019
  • Its forces have routed the would-be caliphate and regained control of the borders.
    — The Economist, 28 Mar. 2018
  • But as the caliphate crumbled, the stories of those who were part of it have been hard to verify.
    — Washington Post, 9 Nov. 2020
  • Exultant armies and militias now occupy the ground once held by the caliphate.
    — The Economist, 5 July 2017
  • But fortunes have changed, and the caliphate is now in deep financial trouble, according to a new study.
    — Rick Noack, Orange County Register, 17 Feb. 2017
  • But it soon became known around the world as an armed group bent on establishing a caliphate governed by Sharia law.
    — Anand Gopal, New Yorker, 28 Feb. 2026
  • That was the basis of Zafira's caliphate's misconceptions, but of course, there's more to it than that.
    — Dennis Tang, Teen Vogue, 28 May 2019
  • Prison breaks have been a priority for Islamic State since the demise of the caliphate.
    — Jared Malsin, WSJ, 28 Jan. 2022
  • The final stage is to establish a state and stitch the other regions together into a caliphate.
    — Robin Wrigh, The New Yorker, 23 Aug. 2021
  • The regime’s problem with the West is the West’s very existence, which obstructs its path to a global caliphate.
    — Reza Pahlavi, WSJ, 18 Aug. 2022
  • There were dead bodies here and there, ISIS and civilians, soldiers and hostages of a caliphate.
    — Andrew Doran, National Review, 25 Apr. 2021
  • But their basic goals — the establishment of a caliphate and the strict implementation of sharia law — have been constant.
    — Obi Anyadike, semafor.com, 23 Mar. 2026
  • The Islamic State, with its own agenda to rule Syria as a caliphate, is being routed from its strongholds.
    — Ben Hubbard, New York Times, 25 Sep. 2017
  • Many in the Beltway argue that just because IS’ territorial caliphate is no longer around, that doesn’t mean the threat is over.
    — Daniel Depetris, TIME, 28 Sep. 2024
  • In 2014, when the sect claimed the area as the headquarters of its caliphate, fighters slaughtered hundreds of people in the public abattoir.
    — The Christian Science Monitor, 8 Dec. 2020
  • Its museum includes a number of artifacts and offers an introduction to the daily lives of residents of the caliphate.
    — Marta Sahelices, Condé Nast Traveler, 16 Oct. 2023
  • The Shiites wanted the caliphate to descend through Ali, Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law and Hussein’s father.
    — ABC News, 25 June 2026
  • About a decade ago, the Islamic State declared the establishment of a caliphate over swaths of Syria and Iraq.
    — Ben Brasch, Washington Post, 9 Apr. 2024
  • The victory was a turning point in the war against the caliphate, which had used Manbij as a base to plan attacks on Europe and supply fighters to Raqqa.
    — The Editorial Board, WSJ, 5 June 2018
  • The caliphate ruled Manbij for two brutal years—years of summary executions and punitive amputations.
    — Anand Gopal, New Yorker, 28 Feb. 2026
  • That year marked the start of Boko Haram's insurgency to establish a caliphate in Nigeria and the broader Sahel.
    — Jordan King, MSNBC Newsweek, 20 Aug. 2025
  • Other attempts at reviving the institution of the caliphate elsewhere in the Muslim world flared in the 1920s.
    — Ishaan Tharoor, Washington Post, 6 Mar. 2024
  • In summer 2017, the unit moved to the outskirts of Raqqah, capital of Islamic State’s caliphate, for the start of a siege.
    — Molly Hennessy-Fiske, latimes.com, 20 June 2019
  • Its leaders seek to exploit the country’s sectarian and ideological divisions to recruit new fighters and rebuild their caliphate.
    — Caroline Rose, Foreign Affairs, 18 Sep. 2025
  • After years of indoctrination, hardship and neglect, many residents of al-Hol still pray for the return of the caliphate, and now face an even more uncertain future than ever.
    — Jane Arraf, NPR, 22 Jan. 2026
  • The caliphate, which ruled large parts of Europe, Asia and Africa between the 14th and 20th centuries, was known for keeping meticulous records.
    — Eric Betz, Discover Magazine, 12 May 2020
  • Abbas, her husband and children traveled in 2014 to Syria, which was then the center of IS’s co-called caliphate, police allege.
    — ABC News, 7 May 2026
  • The logline was sent to The Hollywood Reporter on Thursday, along with a shock-seeking teaser that caps a dark and violent montage with a pull-back-to-reveal shot of the campus caliphate.
    — Kevin Dolak, HollywoodReporter, 25 June 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'caliphate.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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