archipelago

noun

ar·​chi·​pel·​a·​go ˌär-kə-ˈpe-lə-ˌgō 

ˌär-chə-

plural archipelagoes or archipelagos

1

: an expanse of water with many scattered islands

2

: a group of islands

3

: something resembling an archipelago

especially : a group or scattering of similar things

an archipelago of small parks within the city

Did you know?

The Greeks called it the Aegean Pelagos and the Italians referred to it as Arcipelago (meaning "chief sea"), but English speakers now call it the Aegean Sea. Numerous islands dot its expanse, and 16th-century English speakers adopted a modified form of its Italian name for any sea with a similar scattering of islands. In time, archipelago came to refer to the groups of islands themselves, and now it is often used figuratively, as in, for example, "an archipelago of high-rise buildings."

Examples of archipelago in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Rugged island Flores, located in the southeast of the Indonesian archipelago, is one of a handful of islands in the world’s most populous Muslim nation with a Christian majority, with 80% of its two million inhabitants identifying as Roman Catholic. — Chas Newkey-Burden, TheWeek, 22 Oct. 2026

Advertisement On the other side of the continent, in 2020, the first green crabs were detected on Haida Gwaii, an archipelago off the coast of British Columbia. — Victoria Malloy, Time, 21 Oct. 2026

From November 21, 2027 through March 20, 2028, Amangati will embark on 19 cruises, tracing the storied harbors and pristine archipelagos of the Antilles and heading to new waters in the Dominican Republic, Martinique, Guadeloupe, and the Grenadines. — Rachel Cormack, Robb Report, 21 Oct. 2026

The quality of the food, the attention to detail and experiences on offer are simply unmatched on the island, if not in the entire Balearic archipelago. — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 21 Oct. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Archipelago Aegean Sea, from Italian Arcipelago, literally, chief sea, from arci- (from Latin archi-) + Greek pelagos sea — more at plagal

First Known Use

1598, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for archipelago

• duodecimo
• impresario
• pianissimo
• acknow
• aglow
• ago
• airglow
• aloe
• altho
• although
• ammo
• backflow

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Kids Definition

archipelago

noun

ar·​chi·​pel·​a·​go ˌär-kə-ˈpel-ə-ˌgō 

ˌär-chə-

plural archipelagoes or archipelagos

: a wide stretch of water with many scattered islands

also : a group of islands