ziggurat

Meanings

1. 1nouncountabletechnical

   A tall temple tower of ancient Mesopotamia, built in stacked levels that get smaller toward the top, with a shrine at the highest point.

   Grammar: Countable: one ziggurat, several ziggurats. Often used with the name of a place, as in 'the ziggurat at Ur'.

   Patterns

   • a ziggurat at a place
   • build a ziggurat
   • the top of a ziggurat

   The ziggurat at Ur still stands in southern Iraq after more than four thousand years.

   Builders made each level of the ziggurat slightly smaller than the one below it.

   Visitors climb a long stairway up the side of the ziggurat to reach the shrine at the top.

2. 2nouncountablefigurative

   Something that rises in a series of wide steps, especially a modern building shaped like an ancient temple tower.

   Grammar: Countable and often used figuratively in architecture writing: 'a glass ziggurat'.

   Patterns

   • a ziggurat of something
   • rise like a ziggurat

   The new library is a glass ziggurat of terraces and roof gardens.

   From the harbor the hotel looked like a white ziggurat stepping up the hillside.

Word forms

Common combinations

the Great Ziggurat of Ur

The Great Ziggurat of Ur was rebuilt in the twentieth century.

a stepped ziggurat

The stepped ziggurat had seven levels, each painted a different color.

climb the ziggurat

Priests climbed the ziggurat to leave offerings at the shrine.

the summit of a ziggurat

Only priests were allowed near the summit of a ziggurat.

an ancient ziggurat

Archaeologists mapped the ancient ziggurat with drones.

build a ziggurat

Each king tried to build a ziggurat bigger than his father's.

Synonyms and how they differ

temple tower

A plain descriptive term; use it when your reader may not know the word ziggurat.

stepped pyramid

Describes the same shape, but it can also mean Egyptian or Mesoamerican structures, so it is less precise.

mound

A mound is any raised heap of earth; a ziggurat is a built tower with levels and stairs.

Word family

ziggurat-like adjective

Shaped like a ziggurat, with stacked, shrinking levels.

Commonly confused: ziggurat or pyramid? ziggurat or minaret?

Practice

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