Ziggurat

//ˈzɪɡʊˌɹæt// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A temple tower of the ancient Mesopotamian valley, having the form of a terraced pyramid of successively receding stories

    "It would be uplifting to think that the ziggurat was the first expression of Near Eastern civilization, for then one could speak about humanity's fascination with the heavens, of the human quest for communion with the infinite."

  2. 2
    a rectangular tiered temple or terraced mound erected by the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians wordnet
  3. 3
    Any building with similar style or shape.

    "He works in an old ziggurat of an office building."

Synonyms

All synonyms
zikkuratzikurat

Example

More examples

"The biblical Tower of Babel is what architects call a ziggurat."

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Akkadian 𒅆𒂍𒉪 (ziqqurratum).

Related phrases

ziggurat algorithm

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.