oceanography
Americannoun
noun
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The scientific study of oceans, the life that inhabits them, and their physical characteristics, including the depth and extent of ocean waters, their movement and chemical makeup, and the topography and composition of the ocean floors. Oceanography also includes ocean exploration.
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Also called oceanology
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of oceanography
Explanation
Oceanography is the scientific study of the ocean. If you're interested in biology, physics, and sea creatures, you might want to study oceanography. Another way to say oceanography is "marine science." Scientists who specialize in oceanography are called oceanographers, and they focus on specific aspects of the sea which might include the physics of waves and currents or the biology of marine animals and plants. The word oceanography was coined in the mid-1800s, modeled on geography, from ocean and -graphy, "the process of writing or recording."
Vocabulary lists containing oceanography
Earth Science - Middle School
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Earth Science - High School
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Earth Science - Introductory
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"So we can help the police with the oceanography to look at the tidal flows, the weather conditions from the time... and try and work out where best to start the search."
From BBC • Apr. 29, 2026
Additional contributors to the study include UH Mānoa oceanography graduate students Victoria Assad and Alexus Cazares-Nuesser, and oceanography professor Angelicque White.
From Science Daily • Nov. 8, 2025
An oceanography professor told ABC it may only have been in the water for a few weeks before it landed at Wharton Beach, where it may have remained buried for 100 years.
From BBC • Oct. 29, 2025
It’s possible that what’s needed most to complete the next mission won’t be oceanography or data mining, but costume design.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 6, 2025
Though oceanography was his special field, his tastes and attainments were comprehensive and he was a man of repute in many ways.
From The Last Leaf Observations, during Seventy-Five Years, of Men and Events in America and Europe by Hosmer, James Kendall
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
