Bessarabia

American  

[bes-uh-rey-bee-uh] / ˌbɛs əˈreɪ bi ə /

noun

1. a region in Moldova, on the W shore of the Black Sea: formerly in Romania.

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Bessarabia British  

/ ˌbɛsəˈreɪbɪə /

noun

1. a region in E Europe, mostly in Moldova and Ukraine: long disputed by the Turks and Russians; a province of Romania from 1918 until 1940. Area: about 44 300 sq km (17 100 sq miles)

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Other Word Forms

• Bessarabian adjective

Example Sentences

Friday’s ceremony celebrated the 105th anniversary of Great Union Day of 1918 when modern-day Romania was formed after its unification with the neighboring regions of Transylvania, Bessarabia and Bukovina.

From Washington Times • Dec. 1, 2023

Vladimir last week also defrocked six priests who had left his church to join its rival, the Metropolis of Bessarabia, which commands 25 percent of dioceses in the country.

From Reuters • Oct. 30, 2023

But it fell under Soviet rule in 1940, when Stalin seized the Romanian region of Bessarabia as part of a 1939 deal with Hitler.

From New York Times • Dec. 19, 2022

It takes about half an hour to cook, stirring constantly, says Roza Jaffe, a home cook and Holocaust survivor from the region of Bessarabia, which today straddles Moldova and Ukraine.

From Salon • Mar. 19, 2022

If Rumania will adopt a frank, cordial, friendly attitude toward us we will have no objections to meeting those tendencies in Bessarabia.

From Current History: A Monthly Magazine of the New York Times, May 1918 Vol. VIII, Part I, No. 2 by Various