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Definition of ocean
1a : the whole body of salt water that covers nearly three fourths of the surface of the earthb : any of the large bodies of water (such as the Atlantic Ocean) into which the great ocean is divided
2 : a very large or unlimited space or quantity
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Examples of ocean in a Sentence
We've sailed across hundreds of miles of ocean.
the Pacific and Indian oceans
Recent Examples of ocean from the Web
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The dark shadow of the moon raced across the ocean and engulfed our band of eclipse seekers.
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And since plastic does not naturally degrade, the billions of tons sitting in landfills, floating in the oceans or piling up on city streets will provide a marker if later civilizations ever want to classify our era.
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While that facility is the last of its kind in the country to not meet federal clean-water standards, independent scientific studies have found that its discharges into the ocean have little to no impact on the marine environment.
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According to data from 1999 to 2007, between 0.97 and 2.74 trillion fish were taken from the oceans annually, dredged up in nets many miles long that are pulled by ships burning huge quantities of fossil fuels.
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That would be the landmasses in the northern latitudes, while the southern regions will warm later because the southern oceans are deeper and colder, and so on.
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The device was recently used by scientists to capture footage of fluorescent sea turtles in the pitch-black ocean near the Solomon Islands.
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But there is an even greater role for this humble genus: as a replacement for the oceans of mulch that have come to define so many gardens across the land.
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Plants need sunlight for photosynthesis, but there’s little sun in the ocean outside of shallow coastal areas.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'ocean.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Origin and Etymology of ocean
Middle English occean, from Anglo-French, from Latin oceanus, from Greek Ōkeanos, a river thought of as encircling the earth, ocean
OCEAN Defined for English Language Learners
ocean
playDefinition of ocean for English Language Learners
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: the salt water that covers much of the Earth's surface
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: one of the five large areas of salt water that cover much of the Earth's surface
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: a very large number or amount of something
OCEAN Defined for Kids
ocean
playDefinition of ocean for Students
1 : the whole body of salt water that covers nearly three fourths of the earth
2 : one of the large bodies of water into which the larger body that covers the earth is divided
Learn More about ocean
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See words that rhyme with ocean Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for ocean Spanish Central: Translation of ocean Nglish: Translation of ocean for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of ocean for Arabic speakers Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about ocean
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