Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A temple tower of the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians, having the form of terraced pyramid of successively receding stories.
Wiktionary
- n. A temple tower of the ancient Mesopotamian valley, having the form of terraced pyramid of successively receding stories.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A temple tower of the Babylonians or Assyrians, consisting of a lofty pyramidal structure, built in successive stages, with outside staircases, and a shrine at the top; -- called also
zikkurat .
WordNet 3.0
- n. a rectangular tiered temple or terraced mound erected by the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians
Etymologies
- From Akkadian ziqqurratu, from zaqāru. (Wiktionary)
- Akkadian ziqqurratu, temple tower, from zaqāru, to build high; see zqr in Semitic roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“SHUSTER: The ziggurat is the nearby remains of an ancient pyramid from the Samarian city of Ur, dating back more than 4,000 years.”
“This so called ziggurat is just decadent housing for all the children and wives of the shieks.”
ZIGGURAT: Dubai Carbon Neutral Pyramid will House 1 Million | Inhabitat
“A ziggurat was a tall, stepped temple-tower believed to connect heaven and earth - hence the angels ascending and descending the steps.”
“The life of a slave was not an easy thing, so we tried to convey that in the scaffolding around the ziggurat, which is just put together with twine.”
“He poked at the humid ziggurat with the machete he'd been using to cut path.”
“That moment found Op de Beeck's camera alighting on a ziggurat-like palace that looked so grand, yet flimsy, that you were sure it was made of cardboard or paper.”
The Washington Post: At the Hirshhorn: Have your Palace and Eat It, Too
“The achievement is all the more remarkable given that Bruneau's intimate, visually spare production includes a stage-wide mirror, positioned just behind the ziggurat of black risers that is the other major set element.”
The Washington Post: Theater review: Taffety Punk's all-female 'Julius Caesar'
“Now the contents of Pro Tools are packed into a ziggurat of boxes threatening to engulf his small Brooklyn studio.”
The Guardian: Cory Arcangel: 'I'm trying to get to the idea of design's idea of the future'
“Quite the contrary, we still have our great building projects, our pyramid - and ziggurat-equivalents.”
“On the eastern side of the city was a second wall, surrounding the royal palace, and another protecting the central ziggurat, a steep pyramid containing the temple to Bel-Marduk, chief god of Babylon.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘ziggurat’.
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Gene Wolfe
Please contribute your favorite words from any of Gene Wolfe’s books to this prize-winning list.
In case you come across words in this list which are too commonplace to fit in, please ...gallipot, roost, badelaire, oblesque, execration, dhole, amschaspand, arctother, chalcedony, penitence, asimi, autarch and 839 more...
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Not 250 Spelling Words Again
Yet more spelling words for intermediate to advanced spellers.
kyoodle, heimin, feis, menarche, cordwainer, gherao, zythum, accidie, anastomosis, boustrophedon, oleum, penicillin and 238 more...
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phrontistery-z
from phrontistery.info
zabaglione, zabernism, zabra, zabuton, zaffre, zaftig, zaitech, zakuska, zalambdodont, zamacueca, zamarra, zambomba and 208 more...
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Recently viewed
A random list of things people are looking up on Wordnik.
craftsperson, bobble-head, kiwi and emu brot..., st. isidore the f..., cloudlessness, sangwidges, omnes Una Manet nox, Chappie, Inca dove, ew, C'mere, skepticism and 966 more...
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Assigned Words
enfranchise, epiphany, equinox, expurgate, facetious, gamete, hegemony, lugubrious, moiety, nihilism, nomenclature, obsequious and 15 more...
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ymmez22's Words
despotic, fiefdom, demagogue, vignette, chavvy, esoteric, stalwarts, unpalatable, eradicated, rapacious, repugnant, zeitgeist and 89 more...
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dandy's list
favourite words
cattywampus, wibble, fenagle, whisker, sneeze, wisteria, honeysuckle, clove, perihelion, glimmer, twilight, dusk and 264 more...
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euphonic logorrhea
cephalopodous, plumulaceous, oblomovism, etiolation, pavonine, somnolent, logorrhea, fulguration, gossamer, prestidigitation, daffodil, inchoate and 174 more...
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elvesoncrack's Words
lachrymose, blustering, fjord, chihuahua, chiffon, catalytic, stile, gefilte, prosh, thwart, ralph, ickle and 379 more...
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je les adore!
fusillade, foal, celestial, abattoir, byzantium, berlin, casablanca, babylon, balkans, albion, avalon, between the devil... and 471 more...
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AbraxasZugzwang's Words
atavism, abraxas, sisyphean, frust, fetus-in-fetu, arhythmically, queef, epidemiology, abecedarian, troglodyte, chiaroscuro, philology and 631 more...
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Uncle John’s Interesting Words
Words I find interesting.
abecedarius, acomoclitic, aperçu, apophenia, aspic, bêtise, bhang, callipygian, calque, carking, cataphract, ceruminous and 97 more...
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Vocab++
Words as I learn them.
fetid, mezzanine, hiatus, austerity, subliminal, resplendent, implacable, impugn, debase, exiguous, cirque, holster and 2538 more...
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The Collection
A somewhat discriminatory list of words and phrases collected for their euphonic or arcane appeal, interesting etymology, or concise definition of an otherwise unnamed phenomenon or concept.
ziggurat, neophilia, sucker punch, soporific, epoch, tundra, fiat, idiotproof, miscellany, metaphysics, cryptozoology, dysphoria and 850 more...
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Unusual and Random Words
My Favourite Kind
quagmire, soliloquy, aardvark, topaz, ardent, exquisite, pyromania, pyre, extravagant, obscure, quetzal, quibble and 199 more...
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sionnach's Words
contumely, fomite, holmgang, poltroon, eleemosynary, obsidian, nugatory, grindcore, felch, recrudescent, pyx, parenteral and 3271 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for ziggurat.
reesetee ...and easier to climb, AZ. Mar 26, 2007
hfabulous Jaz Coleman and Anne Dudley recorded a beautiful album entitled The Victorious City "way back" in 1990.
One of my favorite tracks from the album is entitled Ziggarats(sic) Of Cinnamon. All ziggurats should be made of cinnamon and/or chocolate.
Oddly, the Playstation 2 series Xenosaga featured a cyborg character named Ziggurat 8, presumably as excuse to give the space-mercenary the nickname Ziggy (in reference to David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust persona).
I secretly imagined it was because his cold metal exterior shell was hiding a centre of pure cinnamon and/or chocolate. Mar 23, 2007
abraxaszugzwang so much cooler than a pyramid Feb 12, 2007