Near East

Middle East, countries in southwestern Asia and northeastern Africa

The Near East is a term commonly used by archaeologists, geographers and historians, less commonly by journalists and commentators, to refer to the region encompassing Anatolia (the Asian portion of modern Turkey), the Levant (Palestine, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon), Georgia, Armenia, and Mesopotamia (Iraq and eastern Syria). The alternative term Middle East—preferred in some political and economic contexts—is not used by Near Eastern archaeologists and historians.
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Noun
1. 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"
(synonym) Middle East, Mideast
(hypernym) geographical area, geographic area, geographical region, geographic region
(hyponym) Mashriq
(part-meronym) Fertile Crescent
(class) Operation Desert Storm

Synonyms and related words:
Africa, America, Antipodes, Asia, Asia Major, Asia Minor, Australasia, East, Eastern Hemisphere, Eurasia, Europe, Far East, Levant, Middle East, New World, Occident, Oceania, Old World, Orient, West, Western Hemisphere, continent, down under, eastland, landmass, the old country
  

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