Christmas Island

American  

noun

1. an Australian island in the Indian Ocean, about 190 miles (300 km) S of Java. 52 sq. mi. (135 sq. km).

2. one of the Line Islands, in Kiribati (Gilbert Islands), in the central Pacific; sovereignty disputed by U.S.: largest atoll in the Pacific; former U.S. test center for nuclear warheads. About 220 sq. mi. (575 sq. km).

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Christmas Island British  

noun

1. the former name (until 1981) of Kiritimati

2. an island in the Indian Ocean, south of Java: administered by Singapore (1900–58), now by Australia; phosphate mining. Pop: 1496 (2013 est). Area: 135 sq km (52 sq miles)

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Christmas Island

Towing it back, as SpaceX did to get the ship to Christmas Island, could take five or six months.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026

Ocean islands such as Christmas Island in the northeast Indian Ocean often contain unusually high concentrations of certain "enriched" elements that typically come from continents.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 12, 2025

The 1958 report from Christmas Island to the nuclear programme’s secret UK headquarters says that there were blood tests for Squadron Leader Terry Gledhill showing “gross irregularity”.

From BBC ● Nov. 17, 2024

The researchers used baited traps to lure the morays to the surface of inland caves that connect to the ocean on Australia’s Christmas Island and the Philippines’s Panglao Island.

From Science Magazine ● May 18, 2023

This was Great Britain’s announcement that it would test its first thermonuclear device over Christmas Island that spring.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

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