Dervish
noun
A member of a Muslim religious group who lives by begging and donations. They are known for their dancing and whirling rituals.
In the town square, a dervish was performing an entrancing whirl.
Often appears as...
- whirling dervish
- sufi dervish
Usage tips
Religious
noun
Someone moving in a fast, often wild or uncontrolled manner.
He was a dervish on the dance floor, wildly spinning with abandon.
Often appears as...
- like a dervish
- spinning dervish
Usage tips
Idiomatic
noun
A member of a Muslim religious group who lives by begging and donations. They are known for their dancing and whirling rituals.
In the town square, a dervish was performing an entrancing whirl.
Often appears as...
- whirling dervish
- sufi dervish
Usage tips
Religious
noun
Someone moving in a fast, often wild or uncontrolled manner.
He was a dervish on the dance floor, wildly spinning with abandon.
Often appears as...
- like a dervish
- spinning dervish
Usage tips
Idiomatic
Definition 1 of 2
Pro Tip 1/3Sufi Origin
Understand that 'dervish' refers to Sufi Muslims, emphasizing the spiritual practices.
The sufi dervishes gathered for a night of prayer.
Pro Tip 2/3Whirling Rituals
'Dervish' often relates to their distinctive form of worship involving dance and movement.
The dervish's whirling was a form of meditation.
Pro Tip 3/3Not Just Beggars
Don't reduce dervishes to beggars; respect their religious and cultural significance.
He studied the dervishes, not for their poverty, but for their faith.
Pro Tip 1/3Sufi Origin
Understand that 'dervish' refers to Sufi Muslims, emphasizing the spiritual practices.
The sufi dervishes gathered for a night of prayer.
Pro Tip 2/3Whirling Rituals
'Dervish' often relates to their distinctive form of worship involving dance and movement.
The dervish's whirling was a form of meditation.
Pro Tip 3/3Not Just Beggars
Don't reduce dervishes to beggars; respect their religious and cultural significance.
He studied the dervishes, not for their poverty, but for their faith.
Pro Tip 1/3Sufi Origin
Understand that 'dervish' refers to Sufi Muslims, emphasizing the spiritual practices.
The sufi dervishes gathered for a night of prayer.
Pro Tip 2/3Whirling Rituals
'Dervish' often relates to their distinctive form of worship involving dance and movement.
The dervish's whirling was a form of meditation.
Pro Tip 3/3Not Just Beggars
Don't reduce dervishes to beggars; respect their religious and cultural significance.
He studied the dervishes, not for their poverty, but for their faith.
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Video examples
Sound Meets Sculpture...
The type of art that I make involves sound and it involves machinery. And I do both of those things together because I'm really fascinated by this experience where objects appear to have this inner life. The dervishes is the name for a musical instrument.
Video examples
The politics of fiction...
We should get out of our cultural ghetto and go visit the next one and the next. In the end, stories move like whirling dervishes, drawing circles beyond circles. They connect all humanity, regardless of identity politics, and that is the good news.
Video examples
Where the River Nile...
their beliefs a crowd urges them to spin they enter a state of trance believing in this way that they can span the divide between heaven and earth these are the legendary whirling dervishes
Video examples
Sound Meets Sculpture...
The type of art that I make involves sound and it involves machinery. And I do both of those things together because I'm really fascinated by this experience where objects appear to have this inner life. The dervishes is the name for a musical instrument.
Video examples
The politics of fiction...
We should get out of our cultural ghetto and go visit the next one and the next. In the end, stories move like whirling dervishes, drawing circles beyond circles. They connect all humanity, regardless of identity politics, and that is the good news.
Video examples
Where the River Nile...
their beliefs a crowd urges them to spin they enter a state of trance believing in this way that they can span the divide between heaven and earth these are the legendary whirling dervishes
Example 1 of 3
Quote examples
Stephen Kinzer
American Author
Ataturk approved of the mevlevi dervish approach to God as being 'an expression of Turkish genius' that reclaimed Islam from what he saw as hide-bound, backward Arab tradition.
Quote examples
Scott Weiland
American Musician
I want a performance style that's more cerebral and emotional than physical. I want to be a creative artist, not a whirling dervish.
Quote examples
Mike Daniels
A lot of these defensive linemen, they're real whirling dervishes - they do all these fancy moves.
Quote examples
Kevin DeYoung
American Theologian
My life often feels like a whirling dervish of kids, writing, speaking, and pastoral ministry.
Quote examples
Stephen Kinzer
American Author
Ataturk approved of the mevlevi dervish approach to God as being 'an expression of Turkish genius' that reclaimed Islam from what he saw as hide-bound, backward Arab tradition.
Quote examples
Scott Weiland
American Musician
I want a performance style that's more cerebral and emotional than physical. I want to be a creative artist, not a whirling dervish.
Quote examples
Mike Daniels
A lot of these defensive linemen, they're real whirling dervishes - they do all these fancy moves.
Quote examples
Kevin DeYoung
American Theologian
My life often feels like a whirling dervish of kids, writing, speaking, and pastoral ministry.
Example 1 of 4
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