Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • A country occupying most of the Arabian Peninsula. Inhabited since ancient times by nomadic Semitic tribes, the region was consolidated under Muhammad, who established a theocratic state at Medina and gained control of all Arabia c. 630. After the caliphate was moved from Medina to Damascus in 661, the peninsula remained fragmented until most of it was united in the 1700s under the Saud family, who adopted the Wahhabi form of Islam. Crushed by Egyptian and Ottoman opposition in the 1800s, Saudi forces reconquered the peninsula in the early 1900s. The unified kingdom of Saudi Arabia was created in 1932 as an absolute monarchy under Wahhabi law. Oil was discovered in 1938 and soon became the mainstay of the economy. Riyadh is the capital and the largest city.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun Country in the Middle East, named after the Saud family. Official name: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an absolute monarchy occupying most of the Arabian Peninsula in southwest Asia; vast oil reserves dominate the economy

Etymologies

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Examples

  • This is pretty much all of the Middle East, which we know as Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, Kuwait and Iraq, today.

    Yahoo! Answers: Latest Questions 2009

  • MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the word Saudi Arabia and beauty pageant rarely appear in the same sentence.

    CNN Transcript May 8, 2009 2009

  • Solving the Coal ConundrumHere's the problem: Coal is an abundant domestic source of energy; the U.S. is frequently called the Saudi Arabia of coal, in fact, and there's enough to last for centuries.

    A Clean Coal Confrontation 2009

  • Does the United States need lecturing about Saudi Arabia from the Russian president?

    CNN Transcript Nov 24, 2002 2002

  • The U.S. has been called the "Saudi Arabia of Coal" with 238 billion tons of

    unknown title 2011

  • She called Saudi Arabia an unstable country in an unstable region.

    KansasCity.com: Front Page 2011

  • She called Saudi Arabia an unstable country in an unstable region.

    Yahoo! News: Business - Opinion 2011

  • She called Saudi Arabia an unstable country in an unstable region.

    KansasCity.com: Front Page 2011

  • Here's the problem: Coal is an abundant domestic source of energy; the U.S. is frequently called the Saudi Arabia of coal, in fact, and there's enough to last for centuries.

    Climate Ark Climate Change & Global Warming RSS Newsfeed 2009

  • Anyone with any doubt that America's friendships have changed need only look at the photograph of Obama bowing before the robed medieval autocrat running the regime called Saudi Arabia (you will have to because the major dailies, news magazines and broadcast networks refuse to show this photo to you).

    American Thinker 2009

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