Okuzeka
History vocabulary · Empires, States and Rulers

Caliphate

Meaning in history, with examples

nounCommon term

In history, caliphate means: The office or rule of a caliph, or a political realm organized around that authority.

In Turkish: halifelik, hilafet

How it is used

Specify the dynasty and period; claims to caliphal authority were not always uncontested.

Example sentences

  1. The seminar compared rival claims to the caliphate.

    The office could be claimed by competing rulers.

  2. The map shows provinces associated with the Abbasid caliphate.

    Here the word names a political realm rather than an individual.

Common collocations

  • claim the caliphate
  • the Abbasid caliphate
  • empireA large state or group of territories and peoples ruled by a single supreme authority, often an emperor or sultan, and usually built through conquest.
  • dynastyA series of rulers who come from the same family and pass power from one generation to the next, or the period during which such a family rules.

More terms: Empires, States and Rulers

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level: