Phoenician
Americannoun
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a native or inhabitant of Phoenicia.
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the extinct Semitic language of the Phoenicians.
adjective
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of or relating to Phoenicia, its people, or their language.
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noting or pertaining to the script used for the writing of Phoenician from the 11th century b.c. or earlier and from which were derived the Greek, Roman, and all other Western alphabets.
noun
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a member of an ancient Semitic people of NW Syria who dominated the trade of the ancient world in the first millennium bc and founded colonies throughout the Mediterranean
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the extinct language of this people, belonging to the Canaanitic branch of the Semitic subfamily of the Afro-Asiatic family
adjective
Etymology
Origin of Phoenician
Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; see origin at Phoenicia, -an
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
David Sassine, Aliph’s project manager in Beirut, was recently dispatched to Tyre, the archaeological site in southern Lebanon that’s famous for its history as a Phoenician maritime hub and for its production of purple dye.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 17, 2026
The Al-Bass site is centred on a necropolis that dates back three millennia to Tyre's time as a major Phoenician city and was still in use until the Arab conquests of the 7h Century.
From Barron's • Mar. 24, 2026
With “The Phoenician Scheme,” Anderson is celebrating the art of the spiel, the capitalism that artists are supposed to be against.
From Los Angeles Times • May 29, 2025
A couple of weeks ago, while out for drinks with a friend, I casually mentioned that I was looking forward to seeing the new Wes Anderson movie, “The Phoenician Scheme.”
From Salon • May 22, 2025
They were never more than a few steps from the cool Mediterranean, and Abdulrahman would follow Ahmad to the shore and up the great Phoenician stones of the wall.
From "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
