IRAQ

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Iraq mean? 

• IRAQ (noun)
  The noun IRAQ has 1 sense:

1. a republic in the Middle East in western Asia; the ancient civilization of Mesopotamia was in the area now known as Iraq

  Familiarity information: IRAQ used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• IRAQ (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A republic in the Middle East in western Asia; the ancient civilization of Mesopotamia was in the area now known as Iraq

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

Al-Iraq; Irak; Iraq; Republic of Iraq

Instance hypernyms:

Asian country; Asian nation (any one of the nations occupying the Asian continent)

Meronyms (parts of "Iraq"):

Bagdad; Baghdad; capital of Iraq (capital and largest city of Iraq; located on the Tigris River)

Ashur; Assur; Asur (an ancient Assyrian city on the Tigris and traditional capital of Assyria; just to the south of the modern city of Mosul in Iraq)

Assyria (an ancient kingdom in northern Mesopotamia which is in present-day Iraq)

Sumer (an area in the southern region of Babylonia in present-day Iraq; site of the Sumerian civilization of city-states that flowered during the third millennium BC)

Chaldaea; Chaldea (an ancient region of Mesopotamia lying between the Euphrates delta and the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Desert; settled in 1000 BC and destroyed by the Persians in 539 BC; reached the height of its power under Nebuchadnezzar II)

Babylonia; Chaldaea; Chaldea (an ancient kingdom in southern Mesopotamia; Babylonia conquered Israel in the 6th century BC and exiled the Jews to Babylon (where Daniel became a counselor to the king))

Mesopotamia (the land between the Tigris and Euphrates; site of several ancient civilizations; part of what is now known as Iraq)

Mosul (a city in northern Iraq on the Tigris across from the ruins of Nineveh)

Kirkuk (a city in northeastern Iraq; the center of a rich oilfield with pipelines to the Mediterranean)

Karbala; Kerbala; Kerbela (a city of central Iraq to the south of Baghdad; a holy city for Shiite Muslims because it is the site of the tomb of Mohammed's grandson who was killed there in 680)

Basia; Basra (the second largest city in Iraq; an oil port in southern Iraq)

Nineveh (an ancient Assyrian city on the Tigris across from the modern city of Mosul in the northern part of what is now known as Iraq)

Kurdistan (an extensive geographical region in the Middle East to the south of the Caucasus)

Iraqi Kurdistan (the part of Kurdistan that is in northwestern Iraq)

Syrian Desert (a desert of northern Arabia occupying western Iraq, southern Syria, eastern Jordan, and northern Saudi Arabia)

Euphrates; Euphrates River (a river in southwestern Asia; flows into the Persian Gulf; was important in the development of several great civilizations in ancient Mesopotamia)

Tigris; Tigris River (an Asian river; a tributary of the Euphrates River)

Meronyms (members of "Iraq"):

Iraki; Iraqi (a native or inhabitant of Iraq)

Domain member region:

Akhbari (a religious movement by Arab Shiite Muslims in 17th century Iraq that is opposed to the Usuli)

Republican Guard (formerly Iraq's elite military unit whose primary role was to protect the government in Baghdad)

IIS; Iraqi Intelligence Service; Iraqi Mukhabarat (the most notorious and possibly the most important arm of Iraq's security system)

Abu Nidal Organization; ANO; Arab Revolutionary Brigades; Black September; Fatah-RC; Fatah Revolutionary Council; Revolutionary Organization of Socialist Muslims (a Palestinian international terrorist organization that split from the PLO in 1974; has conducted terrorist attacks in 20 countries)

Ansar al-Islam; Ansar al Islam; Supporters of Islam (a radical Islamic group of terrorists in the Iraqi part of Kurdistan who oppose an independent secular nation as advocated by the United States; some members fought with the Taliban and al-Qaeda forces in Afghanistan; said to receive financial support from Saddam Hussein)

Assyrian; Assyrian Neo-Aramaic (the language of modern Iraq)

Holonyms ("Iraq" is a part of...):

Middle East; Mideast; Near 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)

Gulf States (the countries in southwestern Asia that border the Persian Gulf)

Asia (the largest continent with 60% of the earth's population; it is joined to Europe on the west to form Eurasia; it is the site of some of the world's earliest civilizations)

Holonyms ("Iraq" is a member of...):

Arab League (an international organization of independent Arab states formed in 1945 to promote cultural and economic and military and political and social cooperation)

OPEC; Organization of Petroleum-Exporting Countries (an organization of countries formed in 1961 to agree on a common policy for the production and sale of petroleum)

 Context examples 

Denotes the inhabitants of Iraq, a person from there, or their descendants elsewhere.

(Iraqi, NCI Thesaurus)

They are the survivors of the formerly extensive Aramaic- or Syriac- speaking Christian community of northern Iraq, southeastern Turkey, and northwestern Iran.

(Assyrian, NCI Thesaurus)

Denotes a person having origins in the region of southwest Asia, between the India subcontinent and Europe, including Kuwait, Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, lands east of Pakistan or the other countries of the Arabian Peninsula.

(Middle Eastern, NCI Thesaurus)

A collective term used to identify indigenous peoples of northern Iraq and neighboring areas of Syria and Turkey, who also identify themselves as Aramaeans and Chaldeans.

(Assyrian, NCI Thesaurus)