Oceania

American  

[oh-shee-an-ee-uh, -ah-nee-uh] / ˌoʊ ʃiˈæn i ə, -ˈɑ ni ə /

Also Oceanica

noun

1. the islands of the central and southern Pacific, including Micronesia, Melanesia, Polynesia, and traditionally Australasia. About 3,450,000 sq. mi. (8,935,500 sq. km).

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Oceania British  

/ ˌəʊʃɪˈɑːnɪə /

noun

1. the islands of the central and S Pacific, including Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia: sometimes also including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago

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Other Word Forms

• Oceanian
  adjective

Compare meaning

How does oceania compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• Oceania vs. Australia

Example Sentences

To conduct the study, researchers sequenced the genomes of 177 people from 12 populations across Near Oceania, the southwestern Pacific region that includes Papua New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago, and the Solomon Islands.

From Science Daily • Jun. 14, 2026

Canada and Mexico – traveling to locations in Europe, Asia, Oceania and South America — the sprint to the end, while still challenging, was suddenly manageable.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 7, 2026

It also concludes that the UK has the second-lowest healthy life expectancy of high-income countries, which includes those in western Europe, the Nordics, North America and Oceania.

From BBC • Apr. 27, 2026

Dozens of members in the International Energy Agency finalized their pledges to collectively release 400 million External link barrels of oil from their strategic reserves, which will release supplies immediately in Asia Oceania.

From Barron's • Mar. 15, 2026

“Unimportant. We shall conquer them when it suits us. And if we did not, what difference would it make? We can shut them out of existence. Oceania is the world.”

From "1984" by George Orwell