New Guinea

American  

noun

1. a large island N of Australia, politically divided into the Indonesian province of Irian Jaya (West Irian) and the independent country of Papua New Guinea. About 316,000 sq. mi. (818,000 sq. km).

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New Guinea British  

noun

1. an island in the W Pacific, north of Australia: divided politically into Papua (formerly Irian Jaya, a province of Indonesia) in the west and Papua New Guinea in the east. There is a central chain of mountains and a lowland area of swamps in the south and along the Sepik River in the north. Area: 775 213 sq km (299 310 sq miles)

2. (until 1975) an administrative division of the former Territory of Papua and New Guinea, consisting of the NE part of the island of New Guinea together with the Bismarck Archipelago; now part of Papua New Guinea

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New Guinea Cultural  

1. Island in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, north of Australia. The western half of the island is administered by Indonesia.

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New Guinea is the world's second-largest island, after Greenland.

It was named for its resemblance to the Guinea coast of western Africa.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• New Guinean
  adjective

Example Sentences

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said in a notice that tsunami waves were possible "within the next three hours" along the coasts of the Philippines, Indonesia, Palau, Taiwan and Papua New Guinea.

From Barron's • Jun. 8, 2026

For years, archaeologists have debated when humans first arrived on the ancient landmass known as Sahul, which once connected present-day Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea.

From Science Daily • Mar. 22, 2026

The company has secured a 15-year bareboat charter to provide a floating storage and offloading unit in Papua New Guinea, the country’s first offshore floating facility, it notes.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 11, 2026

"PNG will be hotter," the 38-year-old striker quips from the sidelines of a training pitch, his eye on fixtures in Papua New Guinea.

From Barron's • Feb. 5, 2026

For instance, Aboriginal hunter-gatherers of northeastern Australia traded for thousands of years with farmers of the Torres Strait Islands, between Australia and New Guinea.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond