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

The Arctic Ocean already receives a disproportionate share of this carbon compared to other parts of the world.

From Science Daily • Apr. 4, 2026

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

From Science Daily • Apr. 4, 2026

Sub-hunting is difficult in part because seas are vast: If the Arctic Ocean were rescaled to the volume of Russia’s largest submarine, that same submarine would be the size of a couple grains of sand.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 11, 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

The ice cubes were miniature icebergs, the kind that sink ships in the Arctic Ocean.

From "The Old Willis Place" by Mary Downing Hahn