Suez

American  

[soo-ez, soo-ez] / suˈɛz, ˈsu ɛz /

noun

1. a seaport in NE Egypt, near the S end of the Suez Canal.

2. Gulf of, a NW arm of the Red Sea, W of the Sinai Peninsula.

3. Isthmus of, an isthmus in NE Egypt, joining Africa and Asia. 72 miles (116 km) wide.

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Suez British  

/ ˈsuːɪz /

noun

1. a port in NE Egypt, at the head of the Gulf of Suez at the S end of the Suez Canal: an ancient trading site and a major naval station under the Ottoman Empire; port of departure for pilgrims to Mecca; oil-refining centre. It suffered severely in the Arab-Israeli conflicts of 1967 and 1973. Pop: 513 000 (2005 est)

2. a strip of land in NE Egypt, between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea: links Africa and Asia and is crossed by the Suez Canal

3. the NW arm of the Red Sea: linked with the Mediterranean by the Suez Canal

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Example Sentences

The rerouting of shipping around South Africa and away from the Red Sea and Suez Canal since late 2023 has "substantially increased" the chances of ship strikes, they said in new research.

From Barron's • May 11, 2026

Container-shipping operators have suspended services in and around the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman, and are re-routing vessels to avoid the Red Sea and Suez Canal.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 7, 2026

The analysts are expecting a “slow normalization” based on benchmarking today’s energy shock against every major one that’s taken place in the Middle East since the closure of the Suez Canal in 1956.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 20, 2026

In retrospect, the Suez crisis is seen as a turning point in 20th-century history.

From Slate • Apr. 9, 2026

What happened was that the Khedive hired a sculptor to make that grand statue to greet ships as they entered the Suez Canal.

From "The (Mostly) True Story of Cleopatra's Needle" by Dan Gutman