Near East

American  

[neer eest] / ˈnɪər ˈist /

noun

1. an indefinite geographical or regional term, usually referring to the countries of southwestern Asia, including Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia and the other nations of Arabia.

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Near East British  

noun

1. another term for the Middle East

2. (formerly) the Balkan States and the area of the Ottoman Empire

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Near East Cultural  

1. A region in western Asia and northeastern Africa, often considered the same as the Middle East.

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Other Word Forms

• Near Eastern
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of Near East

First recorded in 1855–60

Compare meaning

How does near-east compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• Near East vs. Middle East

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Near East

"But we have been here before, and we've seen negotiations collapse at the last minute for a variety of reasons," added Rumley, now a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

From BBC ● May 6, 2026

Between 193 and 197, Severus was confronted by two rivals, Clodius Albinus in Gaul and Britain, and Pescennius Niger in the Near East.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 19, 2026

Patrick Clawson, director of the Iran program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said that Mojtaba Khamenei’s position on the nuclear program has been a stubborn mystery.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 12, 2026

But Iranian energy assets have not been degraded so far and targeting the island would be "a very risky move", Farzin Nadimi, senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told AFP.

From Barron's ● Mar. 11, 2026

As with the yin and yang of the Far East and Zoroaster’s dualism of good and evil in the Near East, creation and destruction were intermingled in Hinduism.

From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife