Northwest Passage

American  

noun

1. a ship route along the Arctic coast of Canada and Alaska, joining the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

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Northwest Passage British  

noun

1. the passage by sea from the Atlantic to the Pacific along the N coast of America: attempted for over 300 years by Europeans seeking a short route to the Far East, before being successfully navigated by Amundsen (1903–06)

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Northwest Passage Cultural  

1. A sea route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean through northwestern America, often sought by early explorers. There is an actual Northwest Passage, but it requires sailing through far northern waters that are icebound much of the year.

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Etymology

Origin of Northwest Passage

First recorded in 1545–55

Example Sentences

Accompanied by HMS Terror, it was searching for the fabled Northwest Passage.

From BBC • May 26, 2026

The project sits almost 120 miles north of the Arctic Circle and near the Northwest Passage, a nautical sea route through Canada’s polar region that connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 19, 2026

Tuffley, the expedition’s leader, says that while melting Arctic ice was making it easier for a boat to move through the Northwest Passage, the icebergs this process was creating were making the journey more “unpredictable”.

From BBC • Aug. 25, 2024

The Northwest Passage, which connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean in Canada, has lacked ice in the summertime in recent years, they said.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 5, 2024

Until 1794 ships sought a Northwest Passage, but none was to be found.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton