Saudi Arabia

noun

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

Saudi Arabia

/ ˈsaʊ-, ˈsɔːdɪ /

noun

1. 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)

Saudi Arabia

1. 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.

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.

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).

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

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

Example Sentences

“I think everybody just wanted to be done with this,” said Michael Ratney, a former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia and top diplomat in Israel.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Emily Abraham, a career diplomat who has had posts in Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and the Dominican Republic, had been laid off over the summer but was meant to receive paychecks until November.

Read more on Barron's

In a statement, Saudi Arabia, which signed a mutual defence pact with Pakistan last month, called for self-restraint and avoidance of escalation between Islamabad and Kabul.

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Allen was on the wrong end of a contentious loss in Saudi Arabia before knocking out Fisher in a rematch at a sold-out Copper Box Arena in May 2025.

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The U.A.E., unlike Saudi Arabia, has insisted that the Palestinian Authority be fundamentally reformed before assuming any substantial role in Gaza’s eventual administration.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal