Nineveh

[nin-uh-vuh]

noun

the ancient capital of Assyria: its ruins are opposite Mosul, on the Tigris River, in N Iraq.

Related formsNin·e·vite

[nin-uh-vahyt] /ˈnɪn əˌvaɪt/, nounNin·e·vit·i·cal

[nin-uh-vit-i-kuh l] /ˌnɪn əˈvɪt ɪ kəl/, adjectiveNin·e·vit·ish

[nin-uh-vahy-tish] /ˈnɪn əˌvaɪ tɪʃ/, adjective

Assyria

[uh-seer-ee-uh]

noun

an ancient empire in SW Asia: greatest extent from about 750 to 612 b.c. Capital: Nineveh.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for nineveh

Last month, a new marauder descended on Nineveh and the nearby city of Mosul.
ISIS Is About to Destroy Biblical History in Iraq|Christopher Dickey|July 7, 2014|DAILY BEAST
And the U.S. is implicated too, as Al Gharawi assumed command in Nineveh before the U.S. withdrew from Iraq.
The Monster of Mosul: How a Sadistic General Helped ISIS Win|Andrew Slater|June 19, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The town of Mosul is mentioned in the Bible, where it is known as Nineveh.
Hillary's Troubling Silence|Reza Aslan|November 13, 2010|DAILY BEAST
There was very high turnout in their provinces of Anbar, Nineveh, and Salahuddin.
Paul Bremer's Victory Lap|Tunku Varadarajan|March 29, 2010|DAILY BEAST

Mr. Layard impressed me as more taken up with concerns of Nineveh and Wardour Street than of la haute politique.
Romantic Spain|John Augustus O'Shea
Ninus, the supposed founder of Nineveh, was the husband of Semiramis.
Chaucer's Works, Volume 3 (of 7)|Geoffrey Chaucer
One volume that he read from cover to cover before he was eight years old was Layard's "Nineveh."
Bert Lloyd's Boyhood|J. McDonald Oxley
Of a statue of Istar, in her old temple at Nineveh, we have at the least the head.
The History of Antiquity, Vol. III (of VI)|Max Duncker
In the vicinity there were no quarries of alabaster, or of limestone, such as existed near Nineveh.
Museum of Antiquity|L. W. Yaggy

British Dictionary definitions for nineveh

Nineveh

noun

the ancient capital of Assyria, on the River Tigris opposite the present-day city of Mosul (N Iraq): at its height in the 8th and 7th centuries bc; destroyed in 612 bc by the Medes and Babylonians

Assyria

noun

an ancient kingdom of N Mesopotamia: it established an empire that stretched from Egypt to the Persian Gulf, reaching its greatest extent between 721 and 633 bc . Its chief cities were Assur and Nineveh

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for nineveh

Assyria

Middle English, from Latin Assyria, from Greek Assyria, short for Assyria ge "the Assyrian land," from fem. of Assyrios "pertaining to Assyria," from Akkadian Ashshur, name of the chief city of the kingdom and also of a god, probably from Assyrian sar "prince." (See also Syria).