ocean

noun, often attributive \ ˈō-shən \

|Updated on: 8 Jul 2018

Examples: ocean in a Sentence

1 a : the whole body of salt water that covers nearly three fourths of the surface of the earth

b : 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

The couple — who dated secretly for months before their relationship became public last May — were photographed frolicking in the ocean together while on vacation in Turks and Caicos.

— karen mizoguchi, PEOPLE.com, "Taylor Swift Frolics in the Ocean with Boyfriend Joe Alwyn While on Vacation in Turks and Caicos," 5 July 2018
Here are 7 tips to reduce your chances of getting bit Advertisement The chances of getting bit by a shark while swimming in the ocean are very, very slim.

— scott berson, miamiherald, "She was feeding a shark by hand. Then it bit her finger and pulled.," 2 July 2018
Microsoft has even begun submerging them in the ocean to take advantage of power generated by tidal surges.

— john markoff, New York Times, "Time Split to the Nanosecond Is Precisely What Wall Street Wants," 29 June 2018
Still, this doesn’t mean that, anatomically, anything goes in the ocean.

— brian switek, Smithsonian, "Today’s Whales Are Huge, But Why Aren’t They Huger?," 27 June 2018
Nicolas runs back to town to tell his mother that there is a corpse in the ocean.

— lincoln michel, GQ, "Évolution Is the Weirdest Sci-Fi Movie on Netflix," 23 June 2018
But Lettuce’s sheer size and influence within the Chicago restaurant scene could accelerate the growing movement to eliminate plastic straws, which are difficult to recycle and often end up in the ocean.

— greg trotter, chicagotribune.com, "Lettuce Entertain You restaurant empire to phase out plastic straws at its 120 restaurants," 20 June 2018
That means more endocrine disruptors in the water and more pollutants in the ocean.

— ellen airhart, WIRED, "China Won’t Solve the World’s Plastics Problem Any More," 20 June 2018
The movie, which was named Operation Petticoat, featured a real pink submarine that was anchored in the ocean off Key West.

— lee smith, Southern Living, "WATCH: Memories of My Summer of 1958 in Paradise," 19 June 2018

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

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 14th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1a

See Words from the same year

ocean Synonyms

Synonyms

abysm, abyss, chasm, deep, gulf;

Related Words

cleft, crevasse, crevice, fissure;

cavern, hole, hollow, pit;

breadth, expanse, extent, reach, spread, stretch;

black hole, emptiness, nothingness, vacancy, vacuum, void;

Other Oceanography Terms

littoral, sound

OCEAN Defined for English Language Learners

ocean

noun

: the salt water that covers much of the Earth's surface
: one of the five large areas of salt water that cover much of the Earth's surface
: a very large number or amount of something