noun, masculine/a.ja.tɔ.la/plural: ayatollahs
ayatollah; strong proponent of something; person behaving tyrannically and despotically in a particular matter
Borrowed from Iranian Persian آیتالله (âyatollâh), from Arabic آيَةُ اللّٰه (ʔāyatu llāh, “sign of God”, from آيَة (ʔāya, “sign”) + اللّٰه (allāh, “God”)).