Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The worldwide community of Muslims.

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

  • noun Alternative spelling of ummah.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the Muslim community or people, considered to extend from Mauritania to Pakistan

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Arabic ’umma, nation, people, community, from Aramaic ’umməṯā, from Akkadian ummatu, troop; see עmm in Semitic roots.]

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word umma.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • "People find many things in their religions—a sense of purpose and metaphysical explanations for human suffering, for example. They may also find a sense of community—the umma of Islam or the neighborliness of a small-town church."

    —Barbara Ehrenreich, Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy (New York: Henry Holt & Co., 2006), 256

    March 18, 2009