Mediterranean Sea

American  

noun

1. a sea surrounded by Africa, Europe, and Asia. 2,400 miles (3,865 kilometers) long; 1,145,000 square miles (2,965,550 square kilometers); greatest known depth 14,436 feet (4,400 meters).

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Mediterranean Sea British  

noun

1. Ancient name: Mare Internum.  a large inland sea between S Europe, N Africa, and SW Asia: linked with the Atlantic by the Strait of Gibraltar, with the Red Sea by the Suez Canal, and with the Black Sea by the Dardanelles, Sea of Marmara, and Bosporus; many ancient civilizations developed around its shores. Greatest depth: 4770 m (15 900 ft). Length: (west to east) over 3700 km (2300 miles). Greatest width: about 1370 km (850 miles). Area: (excluding the Black Sea) 2 512 300 sq km (970 000 sq miles)

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Mediterranean Sea Cultural  

1. Sea surrounded by Europe, Asia, and Africa.

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Etymology

Origin of Mediterranean Sea

First recorded in 1550–60

Example Sentences

Today, the Mediterranean Sea is considered the final remnant of that ancient ocean.

From Science Daily • May 18, 2026

The Gallipoli campaign, part of a British-led effort to defeat the Ottoman Empire, aimed to secure a naval route through the Dardanelles from the Mediterranean Sea to Constantinople, now Istanbul, in Turkey.

From BBC • Apr. 25, 2026

The “Wander” guide maps out the division of the space into four regions correlating to bodies of water: the Indian, Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and the Mediterranean Sea.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 22, 2026

The roughly 1,000-mile-long pipeline began operations in 1950, connecting oilfields of eastern Saudi Arabia to the port of Sidon in Lebanon, on the Mediterranean Sea.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 15, 2026

The Italian merchants sometimes sailed across the Mediterranean Sea to Syria, where they could buy black pepper that had been grown on the southwest coast of India.

From "Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science" by Marc Aronson