Noun: Middle East
- The area around the eastern Mediterranean; from Turkey to northern Africa and eastward to Iran; the site of such ancient civilizations as Phoenicia and Babylon and Egypt and the birthplace of Judaism and Christianity and Islam; had continuous economic and political turmoil in the 20th century
"the Middle East is the cradle of Western civilization";
- Mideast, Near East
Type of: geographic area, geographic region, geographical area, geographical region
Encyclopedia: Middle East, North Africa and Turkey