blue-water

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.

---

Etymology

Origin of blue-water

First recorded in 1900–05

Example Sentences

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

Nowadays cascades of sciences, pursuits less romantic than blue-water sailing, and ranging from archaeology to microbiology, have essentially answered the other questions too.

From New York Times • May 14, 2019

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

Ocean racing; the great blue-water yacht races, 1866-1935.

From U.S. Copyright Renewals, 1963 July - December by Library of Congress. Copyright Office