Arctic Ocean

American  

[ahrk-tik oh-shuhn, ahr-tik] / ˈɑrk tɪk ˈoʊ ʃən, ˈɑr tɪk /

noun

1. the smallest of the world’s five principal oceans, located north of North America, Asia, and the Arctic Circle, with its deepest section within the Greenland Sea. 6,007,000 square miles (15,558,000 square kilometers).

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Arctic Ocean British  

noun

1. the ocean surrounding the North Pole, north of the Arctic Circle. Area: about 14 100 000 sq km (5 440 000 sq miles)

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Arctic Ocean Cultural  

1. The cold, ice-covered waters surrounding the North Pole, located entirely within the Arctic Circle. It contains the northernmost islands of Canada, Norway, and Russia.

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Discover More

Most of the Arctic Ocean is covered by solid ice, ice floes, and icebergs.

Etymology

Origin of Arctic Ocean

First recorded in 1780–90

Example Sentences

These continental shelf areas cover nearly half of the Arctic Ocean.

From Science Daily • May 28, 2026

Even the freezing cold Arctic Ocean teems with life.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026

This makes the Arctic Ocean especially sensitive to changes occurring in rivers and streams across the region.

From Science Daily • Apr. 4, 2026

Greenland would be happy for the US to increase its military presence on the island, he said, with the North Atlantic and Arctic Ocean "becoming much more of a military threat".

From BBC • Jan. 19, 2026

Sixty B-52s, loaded with hydrogen bombs, circled the outside edges of the Soviet Union—above the Arctic Ocean north of Greenland, above the Mediterranean Sea, above the western coast of Alaska.

From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin