Euphrates

American  

[yoo-frey-teez] / yuˈfreɪ tiz /

noun

1. a river in SW Asia, flowing from E Turkey through Syria and Iraq, joining the Tigris to form the Shatt-al-Arab near the Persian Gulf. 1,700 miles (2,735 km) long.

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Euphrates British  

/ juːˈfreɪtiːz /

noun

1. a river in SW Asia, rising in E Turkey and flowing south across Syria and Iraq to join the Tigris, forming the Shatt-al-Arab, which flows to the head of the Persian Gulf: important in ancient times for the extensive irrigation of its valley (in Mesopotamia). Length: 3598 km (2235 miles)

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Other Word Forms

• Euphratean adjective
• trans-Euphrates adjective

Example Sentences

The major air corridor over the Euphrates Valley in Iraq was empty.

From Barron's • Mar. 2, 2026

Earlier, the army took the strategic Tabqa dam on the Euphrates river.

From BBC • Jan. 30, 2026

Syrian forces took from the SDF a military base, oil facilities and a dam on the Euphrates River, weakening the Kurdish group’s negotiating hand over the future of its thousands of fighters.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 22, 2026

Dozens of residents crossed the Euphrates in boats after two bridges were destroyed, while residents toppled a statue of a woman erected by Kurdish forces.

From Barron's • Jan. 19, 2026

It consisted of a series of four brick terraces, rising above the Euphrates River, with lush flowering shrubs and trees spilling over the city.

From "The Annotated Mona Lisa" by Carol Strickland and John Boswell