sargasso

noun

sar·​gas·​so sär-ˈga-(ˌ)sō 

plural sargassos

1

: gulfweed, sargassum

2

: a mass of floating vegetation and especially sargassums

Examples of sargasso in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The Beaches at Punta Mita are long, quiet and free of the sargasso that chokes other waterways in Mexico. —Winston Ross, Forbes.com, 31 Mar. 2026

Some features are impossible to miss, like the multi-tiered adults-only and separate family pools, plus two miles of white-sand beach (where the sargasso seaweed is caught with nets and meticulously cleaned from the beach each morning). —Devorah Lev-Tov, Travel + Leisure, 5 June 2023

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Portuguese sargaço, apparently the same word as sargaço, sargaça "the flowering plant Halimium lasianthum, related to the rockrose," of uncertain origin

Note: Traced by Coromines (Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico) along with Spanish jaguarzo to a putative Mozarabic *xaugaçro, going back to Latin salicastrum, a plant of uncertain identity named by Pliny.

First Known Use

1598, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for sargasso

• basso
• lasso
• paso

Kids Definition

sargasso

noun

sar·​gas·​so sär-ˈgas-ō 

plural sargassos

1

: sargassum

2

: a mass of floating plants and especially sargassums