archipelago
Americannoun
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a large group or chain of islands.
the Malay Archipelago.
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any large body of water with many islands.
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the Archipelago, the Aegean Sea.
noun
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a group of islands
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a sea studded with islands
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A large group of islands.
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A sea, such as the Aegean, or an area in a sea containing a large number of scattered islands.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of archipelago
1495–1505; alteration ( archi- for arci- ) of Italian arcipelago, alteration of Egeopelago the Aegean Sea < Greek Aigaîon pélagos
Explanation
Now here's a word, archipelago, that is super-specific: it means a group of many islands. Wouldn't it be great to build your dream house in the Galapagos archipelago? It seems that archipelago came from the Italian Arciplago, the name for the Aegean Sea, which is full of many many islands. Somehow that became the word for any sea that is chock-full of islands. You can also use archipelago to indicate some other grouping that involves neither islands nor water but is similar to them. Your little sister might create an archipelago of Lego buildings on your living room carpet.
Vocabulary lists containing archipelago
Play by the Rules: Arch
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Language Gone Wrong: Words That Started Out as Errors
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Physical Geography - Introductory
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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.
Charles Post and Rachel Pohl are trading a remote Norwegian archipelago for Montana and putting their farmhouse on the market.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 7, 2026
Svalbard, a Norwegian Arctic archipelago that is home to polar bears, has reached warming of 1.5C-2C per decade.
From Barron's • Jun. 23, 2026
Many other foreigners were rooting for Cape Verde, the archipelago off the coast of West Africa whose idyllic beaches and landscapes attract about a million tourists every year.
From BBC • Jun. 15, 2026
The Channel Islands, an archipelago that includes three additional islands outside the park, are nicknamed the “Galapagos of North America” for the flora and fauna found only there.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 5, 2026
The Orléans archipelago is a string of islands stretching like a rose with a crooked stem out into the warm sea.
From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
