Suez Canal

American  

noun

1. a canal in NE Egypt, cutting across the Isthmus of Suez and connecting the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. 107 miles (172 km) long.

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Suez Canal British  

noun

1. a sea-level canal in NE Egypt, crossing the Isthmus of Suez and linking the Mediterranean with the Red Sea: built (1854–69) by de Lesseps with French and Egyptian capital; nationalized in 1956 by the Egyptians. Length: 163 km (101 miles)

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Suez Canal Cultural  

1. A canal connecting the Mediterranean and Red Seas, completed in 1869 and long controlled by Great Britain. The opera Aïda by Giuseppe Verdi was written to honor the opening of the canal. (See Suez Canal crisis.)

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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

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

Lying on the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, Djibouti serves as a gateway to the Suez Canal, one of the world's busiest shipping routes.

From BBC • Apr. 11, 2026

While Iranian officials compare the proposed toll system to the practice of the Suez Canal, which generates billions of dollars each year for Egypt, these two waterways are fundamentally different under international law.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026

Khedive Ismail spent a fortune building the Suez Canal and other projects.

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