near east

Noun
  1. The area around the eastern Mediterranean;
    From Turkey to northern Africa and eastward to Iran;
    The site of such ancient civilizations as Phoenicia and Babylon and Egypt and the birthplace of Judaism and Christianity and Islam;
    Had continuous economic and political turmoil in the 20th century (synset 108809019)
    "the Middle East is the cradle of Western civilization"
    domain member region:
    • operation desert storm - the United States and its allies defeated Iraq in a ground war that lasted 100 hours (1991)
    • arab-israeli war, six day war, six-day war - tension between Arabs and Israeli erupted into a brief war in June 1967; Israel emerged as a major power in the Middle East
    • arab-israeli war, yom kippur war - Egypt and Syria attacked Israel in October 1973 (on Yom Kippur); Israel counterattacked and drove the Syrians back and crossed the Suez Canal into Egypt
    • zarf - an ornamental metal cup-shaped holder for a hot coffee cup
    • pita, pocket bread - usually small round bread that can open into a pocket for filling
    • falafel, felafel - small croquette of mashed chick peas or fava beans seasoned with sesame seeds
    is an instance of: geographic area, geographic region, geographical area, geographical region - a demarcated area of the Earth
    specific instances: mashriq - Arabic name for the Middle East
    has:
    • fertile crescent - a geographical area of fertile land in the Middle East stretching in a broad semicircle from the Nile to the Tigris and Euphrates
    • israel - an ancient kingdom of the Hebrew tribes at the southeastern end of the Mediterranean Sea; founded by Saul around 1025 BC and destroyed by the Assyrians in 721 BC
    • israel, sion, state of israel, yisrael, zion - Jewish republic in southwestern Asia at eastern end of Mediterranean; formerly part of Palestine
    • arab republic of egypt, egypt, united arab republic - a republic in northeastern Africa known as the United Arab Republic until 1971; site of an ancient civilization that flourished from 2600 to 30 BC
    • iran, islamic republic of iran, persia - a theocratic Islamic republic in the Middle East in western Asia; Iran was the core of the ancient empire that was known as Persia until 1935; rich in oil
    • al-iraq, irak, iraq, republic of iraq - a republic in the Middle East in western Asia; the ancient civilization of Mesopotamia was in the area now known as Iraq
    • levant - the former name for the geographical area of the eastern Mediterranean that is now occupied by Lebanon, Syria, and Israel
    • hashemite kingdom of jordan, jordan - an Arab kingdom in southwestern Asia on the Red Sea
    • koweit, kuwait, state of kuwait - an Arab kingdom in Asia on the northwestern coast of the Persian Gulf; a major source of petroleum
    • lebanese republic, lebanon - an Asian republic at east end of Mediterranean
    • kingdom of saudi arabia, saudi arabia - an absolute monarchy occupying most of the Arabian Peninsula in southwest Asia; vast oil reserves dominate the economy
    • syria, syrian arab republic - an Asian republic in the Middle East at the east end of the Mediterranean; site of some of the world's most ancient centers of civilization
    • republic of turkey, turkey - a Eurasian republic in Asia Minor and the Balkans; on the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1918, the Young Turks, led by Kemal Ataturk, established a republic in 1923
    same as: middle east, mideast

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