al-qa'ida

Questions about al-qa'ida

What does al-qa'ida mean?

al-qa'ida means "a terrorist network intensely opposed to the United States that dispenses money and logistical support and training to a wide variety of radical Islamic terrorist groups; has cells in more than 50 countries".

How many syllables are in al-qa'ida?

al-qa'ida has 3 syllables and divides as al--qa'i-da under the regular spelling rules. It is not in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, so that comes from how the word is written rather than from a recorded pronunciation, and no stress or phonetic transcription is claimed for it.

What is another word for al-qa'ida?

Close synonyms include al-Qaeda, Qaeda, al-Qaida, al Qaeda, al Qaida. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is al-qa'ida a common word?

al-qa'ida is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.