Riyadh

[ree-yahd]

noun

a city in and the capital of Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia

noun

a kingdom in N and central Arabia, including Hejaz, Nejd, and dependencies. About 600,000 sq. mi. (1,554,000 sq. km). Capital: Riyadh.

Compare Mecca.

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

Examples from the Web for riyadh

Contemporary Examples of riyadh

Laipson was in Riyadh to moderate a foreign policy panel with the Saudi foreign minister, Prince Turki.
Do Women Need to Lean In to Be Experts on Network TV?
Tara D. Sonenshine
May 6, 2014
The carrier, a health care provider, flew from Riyadh to Chicago, by way of London, and then boarded a bus to Indiana.
Is Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) the Next SARS?
Dr. Anand Veeravagu, MD, Tej Azad
May 3, 2014
In recent years there have been many issues driving a wedge between Riyadh and Washington.
Saudi Arabia’s Comic Book Fatwa
Christopher Dickey
March 28, 2014
A June 12, 2006 cable from the U.S. embassy in Riyadh disclosed by WikiLeaks highlights this kind of bigotry.
U.S. Keeps Saudi Arabia’s Worst Secret
Eli Lake
March 25, 2014
Prospects for the president to confront Riyadh on human rights are low.
Congress: Obama Must Press Saudi Arabia on Human Rights
Josh Rogin
March 25, 2014

British Dictionary definitions for riyadh

Riyadh

noun

the joint capital (with Mecca) of Saudi Arabia, situated in a central oasis: the largest city in the country. Pop: 5 514 000 (2005 est)

Saudi Arabia

noun

a kingdom in SW Asia, occupying most of the Arabian peninsula between the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea: founded in 1932 by Ibn Saud, who united Hejaz and Nejd; consists mostly of desert plateau; large reserves of petroleum and natural gas. Official language: Arabic. Official religion: (Sunni) Muslim. Currency: riyal. Capital: Riyadh (royal and administrative), Jiddah (diplomatic). Pop: 26 939 583 (2013 est). Area: 2 260 353 sq km (872 722 sq miles)

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

riyadh in Culture

Saudi Arabia

[(sow-dee, saw-dee, sah-ooh-dee)]

Monarchy occupying most of the Arabian Peninsula, where it is bordered by Jordan, Iraq, and Kuwait to the north; the Persian Gulf, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates to the east; Oman to the east and south; Yemen to the south; and the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba to the west. Its capital and largest city is Riyadh.

Note

Saudi Arabia sits on at least one-fourth of the world's known oil reserves, a geological gift that makes this otherwise resource-poor, desert nation very rich and important to the industrial nations of the world.

Note

Overwhelmingly Muslim, the country is ruled by a royal family according to conservative Muslim law.

Note

Saudi Arabia is the location of Mecca (see also Mecca) and Medina, the two most holy places in the world for Muslims, pilgrimage sites equivalent to the Catholic Rome and the Christian and Jewish Jerusalem (see also Jerusalem).

Note

Saudi Arabia became the major staging ground for United Nations forces seeking to expel Iraq from Kuwait in 1990–1991. (See Persian Gulf War.)