Melanesia
[mel-uh-nee-zhuh, -shuh]
- one of the three principal divisions of Oceania, comprising the island groups in the S Pacific NE of Australia.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for melanesia
Historical Examples
There is more pure plutocracy in Melanesia than in New York.
FolkwaysWilliam Graham Sumner
In Vao, as in all Melanesia, the pig is the most valued of animals.
Two Years with the Natives in the Western PacificFelix Speiser
The pig-cult, or “Suque,” is found almost all over Melanesia.
Two Years with the Natives in the Western PacificFelix Speiser
Complete totemism is not asserted here, and is denied for Melanesia.
Myth, Ritual, and Religion, Vol. 1Andrew Lang
But, after all, Melanesia is becoming more and more a substantial reality.'
Life of John Coleridge PattesonCharlotte M. Yonge
Melanesia
- one of the three divisions of islands in the Pacific (the others being Micronesia and Polynesia); the SW division of Oceania: includes Fiji, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, the Bismarck Archipelago, and the Louisiade, Solomon, Santa Cruz, and Loyalty Islands, which all lie northeast of Australia
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Word Origin
C19: from Greek melas black + nēsos island; with reference to the dark skins of the inhabitants; on the model of Polynesia
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for melanesia
Melanesia
one of three large divisions of Pacific islands, 1840, from a continental language, from melano- + nesos "island" (see Chersonese) + -ia. Modeled after Polynesia and meant to signify "the islands inhabited by blacks."
La Melanesia comprende la grande isola Australia, e quelle degli arcipelaghi di Salomone, di Lapèrouse, di Quiros, e dei gruppi della Nuova Caledonia, di Norfolk, e della Diemenin. A cagione dei Neri Oceanici, che, quasi esclusivamente, ne popolano le regioni, questa parte della Oceania ebbe dai moderni geografi e viaggiatori (il Graberg, il Rienzi, il d'Urville, ec.) il nome di Melanesia. ["Corso di Geografia Universale," Firenze, 1839]
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper