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Indian Ocean

American  
[in-dee-uhn oh-shuhn] / ˈɪn di ən ˈoʊ ʃən /

noun

  1. an ocean south of Asia, east of Africa, and west of Australia, with its deepest section in the Java Trench. 27,243,268 square miles (70,560,000 square kilometers).


Indian Ocean British  

noun

  1. an ocean bordered by Africa in the west, Asia in the north, and Australia in the east and merging with the Antarctic Ocean in the south. Average depth: 3900 m (13 000 ft). Greatest depth (off the Sunda Islands): 7450 m (24 442 ft). In December 2004 a major undersea earthquake off Sumatra triggered a tsunami which affected large areas of the ocean as far away as east Africa, and killed an estimated 226 435 people. Area: about 73 556 000 sq km (28 400 000 sq miles)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Indian Ocean Cultural  
  1. Third-largest ocean (after the Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean), extending from southern Asia to Antarctica and from eastern Africa to southeastern Australia.


Etymology

Origin of Indian Ocean

First recorded in 1580–90

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Mr. Hazareesingh, who teaches politics at Oxford, stays focused on the era of the trans-Atlantic slave trade but includes the colonial territories of the Indian Ocean.

From The Wall Street Journal

Without that, would Brook have been answering questions in a conference room of a hotel overlooking the Indian Ocean?

From BBC

The Reuters news agency reports that flooding in south-eastern Africa has become more frequent and severe as climate change makes storms in the adjacent Indian Ocean more powerful.

From BBC

The collection will examine multiple dimensions of ocean heat change, including detailed regional studies focused on waters near China, the South Pacific, and the Indian Ocean.

From Science Daily

The country is also dealing with an energy and water crisis so severe that President Masoud Pezeshkian has proposed moving the capital out of Tehran and closer to the Indian Ocean coast.

From The Wall Street Journal