Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun pejorative The United States of America, usually from the point of view of Iran, the Middle East, or Muslims in general.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

A calque of Persian شیطان بزرگ (šaytân-e bozorg), a name for the largest of the three jamarat at which stones are thrown during the Hajj.

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Examples

  • Tomorrow, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will come to New York - to the heart of what he calls the Great Satan - and speak freely in this, a country whose demise he has called for.

    FUTURISM NOW 2008

  • Tomorrow, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will come to New York - to the heart of what he calls the Great Satan - and speak freely in this, a country whose demise he has called for.

    Rantings of a Sandmonkey 2008

  • Tomorrow, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will come to New York - to the heart of what he calls the Great Satan - and speak freely in this, a country whose demise he has called for.

    Thoughts Of A Conservative Christian budsimmons 2008

  • Tomorrow, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will come to New York mdash; to the heart of what he calls the Great Satan mdash; and speak freely in this, a country whose demise he has called for.

    Jihad Monitor 2008

  • The son of an important ayatollah, Mr. Larijani became a prominent member of the new Islamic government, which valued him for his conservative religious upbringing and his fluency in the language of the country his contemporaries were calling the Great Satan.

    NYT > Home Page By RICK GLADSTONE 2011

  • The son of an important ayatollah, Mr. Larijani became a prominent member of the new Islamic government, which valued him for his conservative religious upbringing and his fluency in the language of the country his contemporaries were calling the Great Satan.

    NYT > Home Page By RICK GLADSTONE 2011

  • Ahmadinejad’s words were a great leap away from the time-tested term Great Satan, and they prompted a surge of speculation about the apparent willingness, finally, of Iran’s archconservatives to explore an opening with America.

    Let the Swords Encircle Me Scott Peterson 2010

  • Anyway, this bizarre but all too predictable piece by the wonderful Matt Taibbi on Goldman Sachs (aka the Great Satan) new scheme to set up a trading bazaar that bundles and sells life insurance policies - a searing indictment of the rank buffoons, Birthers, Deathers and Beckers and their obsession with fantasies like Sarah Palin's death panels, here is the real thing and it's being rammed up right up our asses!

    OpEdNews - Diary: Wall Street Vultures to Feast on the Dead 2009

  • Why would they want it to stop, especially since it is causing immense difficulty for what they or their buddies call The Great Satan and, with regard to Iran, is preventing us from giving more focus to its drive for nukes.

    Sanity, Competence, And The Latest Washington Crock About Iraq. 2006

  • Iran into a corner, inflames the atmosphere for negotiations, and makes it easier for Iran's hardliners to argue that the Great Satan is the cause of Iran's economic woes.

    NPR Topics: News 2011

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