Renowned scholar Al-Raghib al-Isfahani (d. 502H) in his book Al-Mufradat fi Gharib Al-Qur’an, which is a dictionary on Quranic terms, explains the meaning of Jihad as follows:
https://al-maktaba.org/book/23636/191#p10
Translation:
Jihad and Mujahada: To exert effort in defense against enemies. There are three types of Jihad: Striving against the apparent enemy, striving against the devil, striving against the ego (nafs).
The three of them come under the saying of the Almighty: {Strive for the cause of˺ Allah in the way He deserves}[Q 22:78], {and strive with your wealth and your lives in the cause of Allah}[Q 9:41], {Those who believed, emigrated, and strived with their wealth and lives in the cause of Allah}[Q 8:72]. And he, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, said: “Struggle against your desires as you strive against your enemies”. And striving is with the hand and the tongue. He, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, said: “Strive against the infidels with your hands and your tongues”.
Modern day pseudo-salafi jihadi groups explain away Jihad in a narrow sense of fighting with the sword only and other aspects of Jihad are portrayed as “watering down the deen”, “sufi innovation” and the likes. Those who engage in Jihad against the nafs, Jihad against the devil, Jihad with the tongue and various other forms of striving for the religion are labelled with derogatory terms and portrayed as charlatans and hypocrites. Those who explain Jihad as primarily defensive are portrayed as “modernists”. They teach Jihad with the sword as a blind obligation upon all without any pre-condition, without any fiqh, without any regard for context, time & place. They consider the purpose of Jihad to be about controlling governments of the world, conquering lands, controlling people and killing all those who come in their way; rather than purpose of supporting the religion, inviting people to Islam and propagation of Islam.
Wahhabism Unveiled 