Hussein

American  

[hoo-seyn] / hʊˈseɪn /

noun

1. Also Hosein; Husain al-Husayn, a.d. 629?–680, Arabian caliph, the son of Ali and Fatima and the brother of Hasan.

2. Saddam at-Takriti, 1937–2006, Iraqi political leader: president 1979–2003.

---

Hussein British  

/ hʊˈseɪn /

noun

1. Also: Husain.  1935–99, king of Jordan (1952–99)

2. Saddam (sæˈdæm). 1937–2006, Iraqi politician: president (1979–2003) and prime minister (1994–2003) of Iraq. He led Iraq into the Iran-Iraq War (1980–88) and the Gulf War (1991) but was deposed and captured in the US-led invasion of 2003; executed 2006

---

Example Sentences

The first Gulf War arguably had two winners: Saddam Hussein for surviving, the U.S. for kicking him out of Kuwait.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 8, 2026

More recently, a statue of Saddam Hussein famously met the same fate.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 1, 2026

Hussein Duwaima, whose original clothes shop was destroyed, said life was coming back "gradually" in Gaza and demand has picked up ahead of the holiday as crowds of shoppers pack makeshift markets.

From Barron's • Mar. 17, 2026

For some around US President George W Bush there was a feeling of unfinished business from the 1991 Gulf War when Saddam Hussein had been ejected from Kuwait but remained in power.

From BBC • Mar. 12, 2026

Somewhere along the way, though, he’d stepped into the fullness of his birth name—Barack Hussein Obama—and the complicated rubric of his identity.

From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama