Babylonian

[ bab-uh-loh-nee-uhn, -lohn-yuhn ]

adjective

1. of or relating to Babylon or Babylonia.
2. extremely luxurious.
3. wicked; sinful.

noun

1. an inhabitant of ancient Babylonia.
2. the dialect of Akkadian spoken in Babylonia. Compare Akkadian ( def 1 ).

Babylonian

/ ˌbæbɪˈləʊnɪən /

noun

1. an inhabitant of ancient Babylon or Babylonia
2. the extinct language of Babylonia, belonging to the E Semitic subfamily of the Afro-Asiatic family: a dialect of Akkadian

adjective

1. of, relating to, or characteristic of ancient Babylon or Babylonia, its people, or their language
2. decadent or depraved

Other Words From

• post-Bab·y·loni·an adjective
• pre-Bab·y·loni·an adjective
• pseudo-Baby·loni·an adjective noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of Babylonian¹

First recorded in 1555–65; Babyloni(a) + -an

Example Sentences

The 3 centuries after 1600 B.C.E. also marked the heyday of such civilizations as the Mycenaeans in Greece, the Hittites and Babylonians in the Near East, and Egypt’s New Kingdom.

From Science Magazine

Because capitalism threatens to destroy us all, it makes sense that a monstrous shopping center would cannibalize Babylonian ruins.

From Los Angeles Times

Suddenly, Streisand was a "Babylonian queen" whose profiles were laced with superlatives - 250 million records sold, 10 Golden Globe awards, five Emmys and two Oscars, for acting and songwriting.

From BBC

The Babylonian astronomers also created formulas to predict where celestial bodies, including Mercury, would appear in the sky.

From National Geographic

The ancient Babylonians of Mesopotamia used many different words for unknowns in their algebraic system – typically words meaning length, width, area or volume, even if the problem itself was not geometric in nature.

From Scientific American