Jump To:

• 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.

---

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.

---

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

It doesn’t have fleets of heavy bombers or a blue-water navy.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026

Its northern island commands the Luzon Strait between the Philippines and Taiwan, a channel for Chinese fleets into blue-water Pacific.

From Washington Times ● Apr. 3, 2023

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

From Fox News ● Jul. 17, 2020

It concerns the inhabitants of the 10-million-square-mile triangle of blue-water Pacific real estate now known as Polynesia, which is bounded by New Zealand, Easter Island and the Hawaiian archipelago.

From New York Times ● May 14, 2019

Ay, ay, sir; that's blue-water philosophy: as deep as the sea!

From The Pilot by James Fenimore Cooper

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

The Langer See, with its deep blue water, had long been the center of water sports in Berlin.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown