satyagraha

noun (sometimes lowercase)

1. (in India) the policy of passive resistance inaugurated by Mohandas Gandhi in 1919 as a method of gaining political and social reforms.

noun

1. the policy of nonviolent resistance adopted by Mahatma Gandhi from about 1919 to oppose British rule in India
2. any movement of nonviolent resistance

n.Indian form of passive resistance, 1920, in writings of M.K. Gandhi, from Sanskrit satyagraha “insistence on truth,” from satya “truth, truthfulness” (from sat- “existing, true, virtuous,” from PIE *es- “to be;” see essence) + agraha “pertinacity,” from PIE *ghrebh- “to seize, reach” (see grab (v.)).