Levant Meaning
/ləˈvænt/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA disappearing or absconding after losing a bet.
nameA cultural region of West Asia, consisting of the countries bordering the eastern Mediterranean Sea, namely Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Jordan and Cyprus (and sometimes, especially in a historical context, also including Turkey and Egypt, then part of the Ottoman Empire).
Sentence Examples
Dates and walnuts are commonly used in the filling for baklava made in the Levant.
There used to be lions in the Levant.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The thief tried to ____ from the police by quickly disappearing into the crowded street.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ____ is a historical term that refers to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of the world.
Word Origin & History
Borrowed from French levant (“rising, sun's point of rising”), form of lever (“to rise”), from Latin levō (“to rise”) (cf. also the present participle levāns), from levis (“light, not heavy”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"I see by the newspapers that the Mediterranean Fleet is leaving Malta for the Levant."
— 1948 October, Winston S. Churchill, The Gathering Storm (The Second World War), volume I, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, →OCLC, book I (From War to War: 1919–1939), page 171:
"[I]t was bound by G. Levitsky […] in turquoise Levant, stamped back and front with the Crosby crest in gold."
— 1976, Geoffrey Wolff, Black Sun, New York Review of Books, published 2003, page 173:
"In a mighty little time their husbands played them false and, taking whatever they could lay hands upon, levanted and left them in the lurch."
— 1885, Sir Richard Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Night 16:
"He died of a Tuesday. Got the run. Levanted with the cash of a few ads."
— 1922 February, James Joyce, Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:
"Crest, a stag regardant levant argent."
— 1932, Notes & Queries for Somerset and Dorset:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The thief tried to ____ from the police by quickly disappearing into the crowded street.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ____ is a historical term that refers to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of the world.