archipelago
[ahr-kuh-pel-uh-goh]
- a large group or chain of islands: the Malay Archipelago.
- any large body of water with many islands.
- the Archipelago, the Aegean Sea.
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Origin of archipelago
1495–1505; alteration (archi- for arci-) of Italian arcipelago, alteration of Egeopelago the Aegean Sea < Greek Aigaîon pélagos
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
peninsulareefarchipelagoenclaveisletislesanctuarybarshelterretreatkeyhavenrefugeatollcayExamples from the Web for archipelago
Contemporary Examples
The flight path remained close to the Indonesian archipelago, well within what is the normal reach of air traffic control radar.
The largest of an archipelago of islands, Santorini is the vestige of a single volcanic landmass that erupted around 1600 BC.
Power has withered at the center and devolved to an archipelago of fiefdoms where warlords rule without the burdens of governing.
There were three Dutch voyages to the Arctic archipelago in the 16th century.
It looks out onto a harbor beyond which is this archipelago, in the Breiðafjörður, the great bay beyond.
Historical Examples
It lies near the sea, as it were at the head of the Archipelago.
Female Scripture Biographies, Vol. IIFrancis Augustus Cox
They should have left the island to leeward, heading into the Caribbean and away from the archipelago.
Captain BloodRafael Sabatini
The vroucolacas of Greece and the Archipelago are again revenans of a new kind.
The Phantom WorldAugustin Calmet
In that story I had not gone back to the Archipelago, I had only turned for another look at it.
Notes on My BooksJoseph Conrad
Morrison knew no more of Heyst than the rest of us trading in the Archipelago did.
VictoryJoseph Conrad
archipelago
- a group of islands
- a sea studded with islands
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Word Origin
C16 (meaning: the Aegean Sea): from Italian arcipelago, literally: the chief sea (perhaps originally a mistranslation of Greek Aigaion pelagos the Aegean Sea), from archi- + pelago sea, from Latin pelagus, from Greek pelagos
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for archipelago
n.
c.1500, from Italian arcipelago "the Aegean Sea" (13c.), from Greek arkhipelagos, from arkhi- "chief" (see archon) + pelagos "sea" (see pelagic). The Aegean Sea being full of island chains, the meaning was extended in Italian to "any sea studded with islands." Klein, noting the absence of arkhipelagos in ancient or Medieval Greek (the modern word in Greek is borrowed from Italian) believe it is an Italian mistake for Aigaion pelagos "Aegean Sea" (Medieval Latin Egeopelagus), or influenced by that name.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
archipelago
[är′kə-pĕl′ə-gō′]
- A large group of islands.
- A sea, such as the Aegean, or an area in a sea containing a large number of scattered islands.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
archipelago
[(ahr-kuh-pel-uh-goh)]
A group of islands near one another.
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The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.