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
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.
Justin, himself from another group in the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago, recounted his first trip in 1986 to North Sentinel.
From Barron's • May 18, 2026
Oceanwide’s roots stretch back to the Plancius Foundation, a Dutch research program formed in the 1980s that conducted annual expeditions to Svalbard, the Norwegian archipelago where Longyearbyen is located.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 17, 2026
The MV Hondius, carrying around 150 people, was anchored off Tenerife, the largest island in the archipelago near northwest Africa, Spain’s Health Ministry said.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 10, 2026
The Dutch government said the ship stopped at St Helena on its way to Cape Verde, an archipelago nation off the West African coast.
From BBC • May 7, 2026
“It looks like an archipelago: lots of islands clustered together, almost holding hands.”
From "From Twinkle, with Love" by Sandhya Menon
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.
