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Saudi Arabia
4 dictionary results for: Saudi Arabia
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
Saudi Arabia
–noun
| a kingdom in N and central Arabia, including Hejaz, Nejd, and dependencies. 20,087,965; ab. 600,000 sq. mi. (1,554,000 sq. km). Capital: Riyadh. |
Compare Mecca.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Sau·di A·ra·bi·a
 (sou'dē ə-rā'bē-ə, sô'dē, sä-ōō'dē) Pronunciation Key
(click for larger image in new window) A country occupying most of the Arabian Peninsula. Inhabited since ancient times by nomadic Semitic tribes, the region was consolidated under Muhammed, who established a theocratic state at Medina and gained control of all Arabia by 630. After the caliphate was moved from Medina to Damascus in 661, the peninsula remained fragmented until most of it was united in the 18th century under the Saud family, who adopted the Wahhabi form of Islam. Crushed by Egyptian and Ottoman opposition in the 19th century, Saudi forces reconquered the peninsula in the early 20th century. The unified kingdom of Saudi Arabia was created in 1932 as an absolute monarchy under Wahhabi law. Oil was discovered in 1932 and soon became the mainstay of the economy. Riyadh is the capital and the largest city. Population: 27,000,000. Sau'di, Sau'di A·ra'bi·an adj. & n. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
| saudi arabia | |
noun | |
| an absolute monarchy occupying most of the Arabian Peninsula in southwest Asia; vast oil reserves dominate the economy |
WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
Saudi Arabia [(sow-dee, saw-dee, sah-ooh-dee)]
Saudi Arabia [(sow-dee, saw-dee, sah-ooh-dee)]
Monarchy occupying most of the Arabian Peninsula, where it is bordered by Jordan, Iraq, and Kuwait to the north; the Persian Gulf, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates to the east; Oman to the east and south; Yemen to the south; and the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba to the west. Its capital and largest city is Riyadh.
Note: Saudi Arabia sits on at least one-fourth of the world's known oil reserves, a geological gift that makes this otherwise resource-poor, desert nation very rich and important to the industrial nations of the world.
Note: Overwhelmingly Muslim, the country is ruled by a royal family according to conservative Muslim law.
Note: Saudi Arabia is the location of Mecca and Medina, the two most holy places in the world for Muslims, pilgrimage sites equivalent to the Catholic Rome and the Christian and Jewish Jerusalem.
Note: Saudi Arabia became the major staging ground for United Nations forces seeking to expel Iraq from Kuwait in 1990–1991. (See Persian Gulf War.)
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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