Pacific Ocean

American  

[puh-sif-ik oh-shuhn] / pəˈsɪf ɪk ˈoʊ ʃən /

Often the Pacific

noun

1. the largest of the world’s five principal oceans, bordered by the American continents, Asia, and Australia, with its deepest section in the Mariana Trench: divided by the equator into the North Pacific Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean. 62,455,900 square miles (161,760,000 square kilometers).

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Pacific Ocean British  

noun

1. the world's largest and deepest ocean, lying between Asia and Australia and North and South America: almost landlocked in the north, linked with the Arctic Ocean only by the Bering Strait, and extending to Antarctica in the south; has exceptionally deep trenches, and a large number of volcanic and coral islands. Area: about 165 760 000 sq km (64 000 000 sq miles). Average depth: 4215 m (14 050 ft). Greatest depth: Challenger Deep (in the Marianas Trench), 11 033 m (37 073 ft). Greatest width: (between Panama and Mindanao, Philippines) 17 066 km (10 600 miles)

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Pacific Ocean Cultural  

1. The largest ocean in the world, separating Asia and Australia on the west from North America and South America on the east.

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Etymology

Origin of Pacific Ocean

First recorded in 1560–70

Example Sentences

Orion completed a 694,481-mile journey around the Moon before reentering Earth's atmosphere and landing in the Pacific Ocean off San Diego on April 10.

From Science Daily • May 4, 2026

Colombia passed the baton to Tuvalu, a tiny island nation in the Pacific Ocean that will host the next fossil fuel phaseout conference in 2027.

From Barron's • Apr. 30, 2026

Nearly a mile deep, the Pacific Ocean volcano known as Axial Seamount is drawing increasing scrutiny from scientists who only discovered its existence in the 1980s.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 24, 2026

Other astronauts have orbited the Moon - most recently the crew of Nasa's Artemis II mission, which splashed down safely in the Pacific Ocean earlier this month.

From BBC • Apr. 22, 2026

Bakersfield is 1 30 miles from the Pacific Ocean, but twice I drove to the beach, just outside of Santa Maria, with my parents.

From "Counting by 7s" by Holly Goldberg Sloan