adjective
Usage: usually capitalized N&E
: of, relating to, or concerned with the countries of the Near East — used originally of the Balkan States, later of the region included in the Ottoman Empire, and now often of all the countries of southeastern Europe, No. Africa, and southwestern Asia, sometimes including the entire area extending from Libya or Morocco, Ethiopia, and Somalia to Greece, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, and sometimes India; compare far eastern , middle eastern