Mediterranean Sea

American  

noun

1. a sea surrounded by Africa, Europe, and Asia. 2,400 miles (3,865 kilometers) long; 1,145,000 square miles (2,965,550 square kilometers); greatest known depth 14,436 feet (4,400 meters).

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Mediterranean Sea British  

noun

1. Ancient name: Mare Internum.  a large inland sea between S Europe, N Africa, and SW Asia: linked with the Atlantic by the Strait of Gibraltar, with the Red Sea by the Suez Canal, and with the Black Sea by the Dardanelles, Sea of Marmara, and Bosporus; many ancient civilizations developed around its shores. Greatest depth: 4770 m (15 900 ft). Length: (west to east) over 3700 km (2300 miles). Greatest width: about 1370 km (850 miles). Area: (excluding the Black Sea) 2 512 300 sq km (970 000 sq miles)

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Mediterranean Sea Cultural  

1. Sea surrounded by Europe, Asia, and Africa.

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Etymology

Origin of Mediterranean Sea

First recorded in 1550–60

Example Sentences

Today, the Mediterranean Sea is considered the final remnant of that ancient ocean.

From Science Daily • May 18, 2026

They’re found around the globe, mostly in subtropical and temperate regions of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans, and in the Mediterranean Sea, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

From Los Angeles Times • May 16, 2026

The Gallipoli campaign, part of a British-led effort to defeat the Ottoman Empire, aimed to secure a naval route through the Dardanelles from the Mediterranean Sea to Constantinople, now Istanbul, in Turkey.

From BBC • Apr. 25, 2026

The roughly 1,000-mile-long pipeline began operations in 1950, connecting oilfields of eastern Saudi Arabia to the port of Sidon in Lebanon, on the Mediterranean Sea.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 15, 2026

Streams fill and merge to join the Nile River system that drains into the Mediterranean Sea more than 4,000 miles to the north.

From "Sterling Biographies®: Cleopatra: Egypt's Last and Greatest Queen" by Susan Blackaby