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 delights of the city
… the Babylonian halls of the big hotel …—
G. K. Chesterton
G. K. ChestertonExamples of Babylonian in a Sentence
Adjective
the Babylonian glitter of the city's gold coast
Recent Examples on the Web
Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 2 July 2025
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
Andrew Silow-Carroll, Sun Sentinel, 29 July 2025
One of the exciting new discoveries includes new information regarding Babylonian women–many were priestesses.
—Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 2 July 2025
Similarly, a clay tablet from 1800 B.C.E. inscribed with Babylonian numbers describes a number system built on prime numbers.
—Jeremiah Bartz, The Conversation, 30 May 2025
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
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Noun
In the Electronic Babylonian Library Platform, study co-author and Assyriologist Enrique Jiménez is digitizing all of the cuneiform text fragments that have been discovered around the world.
—Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 2 July 2025
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
Rabbi Neil Danzig, a longtime professor of rabbinics at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York and an authority on the post-Talmudic Babylonian scholars known as the Geonim, died July 4.
—Andrew Silow-Carroll, Sun Sentinel, 29 July 2025
One of the exciting new discoveries includes new information regarding Babylonian women–many were priestesses.
—Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 2 July 2025
Similarly, a clay tablet from 1800 B.C.E. inscribed with Babylonian numbers describes a number system built on prime numbers.
—Jeremiah Bartz, The Conversation, 30 May 2025
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
Cite this Entry
“Babylonian.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Babylonian. Accessed 9 Nov. 2025.
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