Babylon

noun

Bab·​y·​lon ˈba-bə-ˌlän How to pronounce Babylon (audio)
-lən
: a city devoted to materialism and sensual pleasure

Examples of Babylon in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web After buying Twitter, Musk reinstated the accounts of prominent users such as Babylon Bee and Andrew Tate that previously were banned for publishing content that violated the platform's hate speech policies before Musk acquired it. Elizabeth Napolitano, CBS News, 5 Sep. 2023 Another health tech darling implodes Industry watchers have long had an eye on British telehealth and AI company Babylon Health, whose startup valuations once reportedly topped $2 billion and which later scored high profile contracts with the U.K.’s National Health Service. Mohana Ravindranath, STAT, 5 Sep. 2023 With her mop of curly hair and the dress, Mimosa creates one of this film’s distracting echoes of Damien Chazelle’s Babylon, presumably inadvertent because that other movie-world saga was only released in December. Caryn James, The Hollywood Reporter, 1 Sep. 2023 In March, 2022, Twitter restricted the account of the satirical Web site the Babylon Bee, after the site misgendered a government official. Ronan Farrow, The New Yorker, 21 Aug. 2023 Before reinstating Trump’s account last year, Musk also brought back the accounts belonging to the conservative parody outlet The Babylon Bee, comedian Kathy Griffin, and author Jordan Peterson. Makena Kelly, The Verge, 25 Aug. 2023 Our fact-check sources: Babylon Bee, Aug. 18, Californians Prepare For Hurricane By Nailing Plywood Boards Onto Their Tent Flaps Thank you for supporting our journalism. Isabella Fertel, USA TODAY, 24 Aug. 2023 Buy Now: How to Say Babylon on Bookshop | Amazon Our Strangers, Lydia Davis (Oct. 3) With her seventh short-story collection, Lydia Davis leans into the irreverent and ignores the conventions of the form. Shannon Carlin, Time, 23 Aug. 2023 The following week, Musk polled his followers about whether Twitter respected free speech and, in a phone call to the Babylon Bee’s C.E.O., joked about buying the platform. Ronan Farrow, The New Yorker, 21 Aug. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'Babylon.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Babylon, ancient city of Babylonia

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of Babylon was in the 14th century

Dictionary Entries Near Babylon

Cite this Entry

“Babylon.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Babylon. Accessed 23 Sep. 2023.

Geographical Definition

Babylon

geographical name

Bab·​y·​lon ˈba-bə-lən How to pronounce Babylon (audio)
-ˌlän
ancient city and capital of Babylonia

Note: The site of Babylon is about 55 miles (89 kilometers) south of Baghdad near the Euphrates River.

see also babylonian

More from Merriam-Webster on Babylon

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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