Bab·y·lo·nian
ˌba-bə-ˈlō-nyən 
-nē-ən
1
: of, relating to, or characteristic of Babylonia or Babylon, the Babylonians, or Babylonian
2
: marked by luxury, extravagance, or the pursuit of sensual pleasure
the Babylonian halls of the big hotel—
G. K. Chesterton
G. K. Chestertonthe Babylonian delights of the city
Examples of Babylonian in a Sentence
Adjective
the Babylonian glitter of the city's gold coast
Recent Examples on the Web
Avi Shafran, New York Daily News, 12 Aug. 2024
The tablets most likely come from Sippar, an ancient city southwest of modern-day Baghdad that flourished during the Babylonian Empire, George tells Live Science’s Owen Jarus.
—Eli Wizevich, Smithsonian Magazine, 9 Aug. 2024
The building was destroyed in 586 BCE when Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II sacked Jerusalem for the second time, effectively destroying the Kingdom of Judah.
—Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 25 May 2023
Judith Shulevitz, The Atlantic, 16 Mar. 2025
Cristina lounges about between scenes in velvet frocks and jackets, tended by a criminally obliging doctor, like a figure from Hollywood’s Babylonian era.
—Stephanie Bunbury, Deadline, 16 Feb. 2025
The Code of Hammurabi, a Babylonian legal code, according to History, contains one of the earliest beliefs that Friday the 13th is unlucky because a 13th law was omitted from its list of legal rules.
—Zach Bradshaw, The Arizona Republic, 13 Dec. 2024
Ethan Hawke's true-crime writer finds a box of Super 8 home movies in his attic, playing them and consequently putting his family in grave danger thanks to the appearance of a Babylonian deity named Bughuul.
39.
—Brian Truitt, USA TODAY, 25 Oct. 2024
The four tablets analyzed in the new study date to the middle and late Old Babylonian periods (circa 1894 to 1595 B.C.E.), some 4,000 years ago.
—Eli Wizevich, Smithsonian Magazine, 9 Aug. 2024
The formula for its hero product, a natural soap housed in refillable glass bottles, is inspired by 5,000-year-old Babylonian recipes.
—Justin Fenner, Robb Report, 8 Aug. 2024
This verse seems to invoke the Babylonian custom of tattooing servants.
—Gustavo Morello, The Conversation, 10 July 2024
During his reign in the sixth century BC, Cyrus the Great—Kourosh in Persian, Koresh in Hebrew—was famous for having liberated the Jews from Babylonian captivity.
—Ali M. Ansari, Foreign Affairs, 29 May 2024
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Noun
The first Temple’s razing, by the Babylonian Empire, occurred in 586 BCE; the second, in 70 CE, was perpetrated by the Romans.
—Avi Shafran, New York Daily News, 12 Aug. 2024
The tablets most likely come from Sippar, an ancient city southwest of modern-day Baghdad that flourished during the Babylonian Empire, George tells Live Science’s Owen Jarus.
—Eli Wizevich, Smithsonian Magazine, 9 Aug. 2024
The building was destroyed in 586 BCE when Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II sacked Jerusalem for the second time, effectively destroying the Kingdom of Judah.
—Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 25 May 2023
Adjective
Ezekiel did his prophesying from exile before and after the destruction of the First Temple in the Babylonian conquest of 586 B.C.E., another defining cataclysm in Jewish history.
—Judith Shulevitz, The Atlantic, 16 Mar. 2025
Cristina lounges about between scenes in velvet frocks and jackets, tended by a criminally obliging doctor, like a figure from Hollywood’s Babylonian era.
—Stephanie Bunbury, Deadline, 16 Feb. 2025
The Code of Hammurabi, a Babylonian legal code, according to History, contains one of the earliest beliefs that Friday the 13th is unlucky because a 13th law was omitted from its list of legal rules.
—Zach Bradshaw, The Arizona Republic, 13 Dec. 2024
Ethan Hawke's true-crime writer finds a box of Super 8 home movies in his attic, playing them and consequently putting his family in grave danger thanks to the appearance of a Babylonian deity named Bughuul.
39.
—Brian Truitt, USA TODAY, 25 Oct. 2024
The four tablets analyzed in the new study date to the middle and late Old Babylonian periods (circa 1894 to 1595 B.C.E.), some 4,000 years ago.
—Eli Wizevich, Smithsonian Magazine, 9 Aug. 2024
The formula for its hero product, a natural soap housed in refillable glass bottles, is inspired by 5,000-year-old Babylonian recipes.
—Justin Fenner, Robb Report, 8 Aug. 2024
This verse seems to invoke the Babylonian custom of tattooing servants.
—Gustavo Morello, The Conversation, 10 July 2024
During his reign in the sixth century BC, Cyrus the Great—Kourosh in Persian, Koresh in Hebrew—was famous for having liberated the Jews from Babylonian captivity.
—Ali M. Ansari, Foreign Affairs, 29 May 2024
Cite this Entry
“Babylonian.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Babylonian. Accessed 27 Apr. 2025.
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