ˌTower of ˈBabel, the BrE AmE
a tower in a story in the Old Testament of the Bible. The story is supposed to explain why there are so many different languages in the world. According to the story, everyone originally spoke the same language, but when the people of Babel tried to build a tower that would reach to Heaven, God prevented them by making them all speak different languages. The people could not understand each other, and were unable to finish building the tower. People sometimes use the word ‘babel’ to talk about a situation in which many people are talking at the same time and it is impossible to understand anyone.