Ankara
name, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A West African fabric. uncountable
- 1 The capital city of Turkey and the capital of Ankara Province.
"He was born in New Jersey and grew up mostly in Ankara and Istanbul, in an upper-middle-class family, spending summers with relatives in the U.S. and watching a lot of American TV."
- 2 The Turkish government. metonymically
- 3 A province and metropolitan municipality in central Turkey around the city.
- 4 A small river in Ankara Province, Turkey near the city, a tributary of the Sakarya.
Example
More examples"In Ankara, I made clear that America is not – and never will be – at war with Islam. We will, however, relentlessly confront violent extremists who pose a grave threat to our security."
Etymology
From Turkish Ankara and Ottoman Turkish آنقره (Ankara), from Byzantine Greek and Ancient Greek Ἄγκυρα (Ánkura), from ἄγκυρα (ánkura, “anchor, hook”) in reference to the bend in the Çölova River before it merges with the Cubuk to become the Ankara but probably also calquing a local name ultimately derived from Hittite 𒌷𒀭𒆪𒉿 (Ankuwa), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂enk- (“elbow, bend, curve”). The river and province are named for the city. Doublet of Angora, angle, and anchor.
Related phrases
More for "ankara"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.