the chief city of ancient Mesopotamia: first settled around 3000 bc
See also Hanging Gardens of Babylon
2. derogatory
(in Protestant polemic) the Roman Catholic Church, regarded as the seat of luxury and corruption
3. derogatory
any society or group in a society considered as corrupt or as a place of exile by another society or group, esp White Britain as viewed by some West Indians
Word origin
via Latin and Greek from Hebrew Bābhél; see Babel
Babylon in American English
(ˈbæbəˌlɑn; ˈbæbələn)
ancient city on the lower Euphrates River (in what is now central Iraq), the capital of Babylonia: noted for wealth, luxury, and wickedness