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• blue-water
  blue-water

  adjective

  designed to operate on and range over the open sea; oceangoing.
• blue water
  blue water

  noun

  water in the form of lakes and rivers, or collected in underground reservoirs. Compare white water, green water.

blue-water

¹ American  

[bloo-waw-ter, -wot-er] / ˈbluˌwɔ tər, -ˌwɒt ər /

adjective

1. designed to operate on and range over the open sea; oceangoing.

   a bluewater navy that can be dispatched throughout the world, far from its home base.

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blue water ² American  

[bloo waw-ter] / ˈblu ˌwɔ tər /

noun

• blue waters
  plural

1. water in the form of lakes and rivers, or collected in underground reservoirs. Compare white water, green water.

2. the open sea.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• blue-water
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• blue waters
  plural

Etymology

Origin of blue-water

First recorded in 1900–05

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

blue-water blue water

Diego Garcia becomes more important as China expands its blue-water navy and establishes naval and air bases in the Indo-Pacific.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 28, 2026

Navy warfare strategists working on arming the surface fleet for massive blue-water combat.

From Fox News ● Jul. 17, 2020

As Europe’s empires continued to spread globally in the 1890s, Mahan’s prolific prose persuaded Washington that national defense required the creation of a genuine blue-water navy and bases in both the Caribbean and the Pacific.

From Salon ● Dec. 8, 2018

“China is building a blue-water navy for the long term: not just the carriers themselves but the auxiliary ships to supply them and the warships to protect them,” he said in an email.

From New York Times ● Apr. 25, 2017

I got those things through the blue-water pretty quick, I can tell you.

From In Homespun by E. (Edith) Nesbit

And how does Brin think Lake Tahoe retains its clear, deep blue water?

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 1, 2026

These passages are interspersed with photos of bright sun, yellow sand, blue water and vibrantly colored foods.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026

“It’s generally a very tranquil river with really beautiful clear blue water that people have been attracted to for generations,” Dickson said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 5, 2025

Prof Breen-Smyth supports the idea and told Spotlight "there are people from the old guard in the paramilitaries who want to put clear blue water between themselves and organised crime."

From BBC ● Mar. 12, 2024

He had come up so fast and absolutely without caution that he broke the surface of the blue water and was in the sun.

From "The Old Man and The Sea" by Ernest Hemingway