archipelago
Americannoun
plural
archipelagos, archipelagoes-
a large group or chain of islands.
the Malay Archipelago.
-
any large body of water with many islands.
-
the Archipelago, the Aegean Sea.
noun
-
a group of islands
-
a sea studded with islands
-
A large group of islands.
-
A sea, such as the Aegean, or an area in a sea containing a large number of scattered islands.
Other Word Forms
- archipelagian adjective
- archipelagic adjective
Etymology
Origin of archipelago
1495–1505; alteration ( archi- for arci- ) of Italian arcipelago, alteration of Egeopelago the Aegean Sea < Greek Aigaîon pélagos
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.
Heavy rains continued to fall on the archipelago in the early hours of Saturday morning.
From BBC • Mar. 21, 2026
After spending much of her career in the U.S., she recently moved back to Åland, a Finnish archipelago of more than 6,000 islands—and began hosting art workshops.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 4, 2026
On the Palm Jumeirah, Dubai's luxury man-made archipelago, the five-star Fairmont The Palm hotel was struck by a large explosion.
From BBC • Mar. 1, 2026
The local museum in Barentsburg focuses on Russia’s centurieslong presence on the archipelago, which Moscow says predates even the European explorers credited with discovering the land in the late 16th century.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 21, 2026
The curtain parts again in about 1500 B.C., when an archipelago of villages, the largest known as Poverty Point, grew up in the northeast corner of Louisiana.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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.
