Quranic root
غلب
gh · l · b
A root of strength, overpowering force, and prevailing over another.
The root develops from exerting force and subduing an opponent to meanings of victory, dominance, defeat, and the resulting state or agent. Related extensions describe predominance, thickness, and dense luxuriant growth.
- Maqāyīs · row 3445
- 5
- Quran-attested forms
- 6
- Quran senses
- 31
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
غَلَبَ
ghalaba
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- Quran occurrences
- 15 occurrences
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
To overcome, defeat, overpower, conquer, or prevail over an opponent or opposing force.
The Quran uses both active and passive forms: the active subject prevails, while the passive subject is overcome or defeated.
- Lane · entry 29657
- Mufradāt · row 1062
Selected Quran examples
To dominate or be overpowered by something; to have something prevail over a person or gain mastery over him.
With عَلَى, the construction presents the thing or condition that prevails over, or takes control of, someone or something. The Quranic use includes a condition that has overcome its subjects.
- Lane · entry 29657
- Mufradāt · row 1062
Selected Quran examples
Quran 23:106word 3
“Overcame”
غَالِب
ghālib
- Part of speech
- Active participle
- Quran occurrences
- 13 occurrences
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
One who overcomes or prevails; victorious or dominant.
An active participle of غَلَبَ, also used substantivally and in the plural for those who prevail or are victorious.
- Lane · entry 29669
- Mufradāt · row 1062
Selected Quran examples
غَلَبٌ
ghalabun
- Part of speech
- Verbal noun
- Quran occurrences
- 1 occurrence
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
Defeat; the state or result of being overcome.
A verbal noun used in the Quran in the expression “after their defeat.”
- Lane · entry 29657
- Mufradāt · row 1062
Selected Quran examples
Quran 30:3word 7
“their defeat”
غَلْبَاءُ
ghalbāʾu
- Part of speech
- Adjective
- Quran occurrences
- 1 occurrence
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
Dense, luxuriant, and large in growth; in the Quran, describing gardens with thick foliage or densely grown trees.
The Quranic form is the plural غُلْبٌ, used as an adjective of gardens. The adjective can convey either dense luxuriance or great size in this construction.
- Lane · entry 29670
- Mufradāt · row 1062
Selected Quran examples
Quran 80:30word 2
“(of) thick foliage”
مَغْلُوب
maghlūb
- Part of speech
- Passive participle
- Quran occurrences
- 1 occurrence
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
Overpowered, defeated, subdued, or overcome.
A passive participle describing one who has been subjected to another's superior power or force.
- Lane · entry 29673
Selected Quran examples
Quran 54:10word 4
“one overpowered”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:249غَلَبَتْovercame
- 3:12سَتُغْلَبُونَYou will be overcome
- 3:160غَالِبَ(can) overcome
- 4:74يَغْلِبْachieves victory
- 5:23غَـٰلِبُونَ ۚvictorious
Broader Classical Arabic meanings
Recorded for this root in the Classical lexicons beyond its Quran usage. These are secondary to the Quran senses above.
Show 28 Classical meanings
غَلَبَ عَلَى
To take or obtain something from another by superior power or force; to cause someone to lose possession of it.
The construction غَلَبَهُ عَلَيْهِ concerns gaining possession of a thing at another's expense.
- Lane · entry 29657
غَلَبَ
To force or constrain someone against his will; of an affair, to overwhelm, defeat, or baffle him.
This is a causative or experiential extension of overpowering, including an affair that proves too strong for a person.
- Lane · entry 29657
غَلَبَ بِـ
To exceed another in a quality or condition, such as surpassing him in fear.
The preposition بِـ identifies the quality in which one person exceeds another.
- Lane · entry 29657
غَلَبَ عَلَى
For a quality to become predominant in a person.
The subject may be an abstract quality, such as generosity, that prevails over other qualities.
- Lane · entry 29657
غَلَبَ
Of a camel, to resist or refuse having a bridle or leading-rope put upon it.
An idiomatic use describing resistance to being controlled.
- Lane · entry 29657
أَيُغْلَبُ أَنْ
To be unable to do something, especially to associate with people kindly.
In the idiom أَيُغْلَبُ أَنْ..., the verb expresses inability rather than victory over an opponent.
- Lane · entry 29657
غَلِبَ
Thick-necked, or thick and short or thick and sloping in the neck.
Applied to a person or to a neck; the thickness may result from disease or another cause.
- Lane · entry 29657
غَلَّبَ
To make someone overcome another, or to secure possession of a town or country by superior force.
Form II is causative and may describe making a person victorious or obtaining territory by force.
- Lane · entry 29658
غُلِّبَ عَلَى
To be judged to have overcome or surpassed a rival, especially in a poetic contest.
This passive Form II construction can report a judgment assigning victory to one contestant.
- Lane · entry 29658
غَلَّبَ لَفْظًا
To make one word or expression predominate over another in a conventional grammatical usage.
A technical lexicological term for treating one member of a pair or expression as representative of the whole.
- Lane · entry 29658
غَالَبَ
To vie, contend, or strive with another for victory or superiority.
Form III describes reciprocal or competitive striving, often followed by an account of who prevailed.
- Lane · entry 29659
تَغَلَّبَ
To gain mastery over a town or country, or to obtain possession of it by force.
Form V emphasizes attaining control through superior power or force.
- Lane · entry 29660
تَغَالَبَ
To contend with one another for control or possession of a town or country.
Form VI describes mutual striving or rivalry in taking territory.
- Lane · entry 29661
اِسْتَغْلَبَ
For laughter to become vehement in its effect upon a person.
The Form X construction describes an overpowering effect, here specifically the force of laughter.
- Lane · entry 29662
اِغْلَوْلَبَ
Of fresh herbage, to mature and become tangled, luxuriant, abundant, or dense.
The Form XII verb describes vegetation attaining full growth and compact density.
- Lane · entry 29663
غَلَبَةٌ
The act or state of overcoming: victory, conquest, ascendency, mastery, predominance, or superiority.
A frequently used substantive for success in a contest or for obtaining something through superior force.
- Lane · entry 29664
غَلَّابٌ
A person who overcomes, conquers, or masters others much, often, or quickly.
An intensive agent noun that may praise repeated or rapid success.
- Lane · entry 29668
اِسْمٌ غَالِبٌ
A designation whose nominal or name-like use has become predominant over another possible sense.
A technical grammatical and lexicological expression, not the ordinary active-participle meaning of غَالِب.
- Lane · entry 29669
الغَالِبُ
The greater part, the majority, or what generally prevails.
In adverbial expressions such as غَالِبًا and فِي الغَالِبِ, it means mostly, generally, or for the most part.
- Lane · entry 29669
الغَالِبُ
What is most probable or likely.
The same substantive is used in expressions meaning most probably or in all likelihood.
- Lane · entry 29669
أَغْلَبُ
More or most overpowering, conquering, or mighty.
The comparative or superlative adjective can describe a mighty or resistive tribe or overpowering might.
- Lane · entry 29670
أَغْلَبُ
Thick-necked; of a neck, thick.
Applied to a man, a she-camel through its feminine form غَلْبَاءُ, or to a neck.
- Lane · entry 29670
غَلْبَاءُ
Of a mountain or hill, lofty and great.
A figurative extension of the adjective's sense of substantial thickness or magnitude.
- Lane · entry 29670
الأَغْلَبُ
A lion.
The designation is explained in relation to the lion's thick neck.
- Lane · entry 29670
مَغْلَبَةٌ
A place where one is overcome or conquered.
A place noun referring to the location of defeat or subjugation.
- Lane · entry 29671
مُغَلَّبٌ
Of a poet, overcome repeatedly or judged to have overcome a rival; thus an epithet with contrasting evaluative uses.
The word can describe repeated defeat or, in a contest of poetry, a person judged the victor. The intended sense depends on the construction and convention.
- Lane · entry 29672
مَغْلُوبٌ عَلَى
Deprived of something because it has been taken from him by superior force.
This is the passive-participial construction corresponding to غُلِبَ عَلَى الشَّيْءِ, distinct from the general state of being defeated.
- Lane · entry 29673
مُغْلَنْبٍ
One who overcomes, conquers, subdues, or gains ascendency over another.
A rare intensive or quasi-coordinate derived form functioning as an agent noun.
- Lane · entry 29674
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The public verb headword is normalized from the internal QAC lemma غَلَبُ to the classical citation form غَلَبَ.
The Quranic adjective group is attested as the plural غُلْبٌ; its supported singular citation form is غَلْبَاءُ.
Lane's citation for the garden expression uses historical Quran-reference notation; the modern example 80:30 is used here because QAC independently supplies and identifies that location.
مُغَلَّبٌ has explicitly attested contrasting evaluations—repeatedly overcome or judged victorious—so both are retained in one Classical Arabic entry.