Polynesia

American  

[pol-uh-nee-zhuh, -shuh] / ˌpɒl əˈni ʒə, -ʃə /

noun

1. one of the three principal divisions of Oceania, comprising those island groups in the Pacific Ocean lying east of Melanesia and Micronesia and extending from the Hawaiian Islands south to New Zealand.

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Polynesia British  

/ ˌpɒlɪˈniːʒə, -ʒɪə /

noun

1. one of the three divisions of islands in the Pacific, the others being Melanesia and Micronesia: includes Samoa, Society, Marquesas, Mangareva, Tuamotu, Cook, and Tubuai Islands, and Tonga

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Polynesia Cultural  

1. Group of islands in the central and southern Pacific Ocean, including the islands of the state of Hawaii and the islands of French Polynesia. Tahiti and Samoa are in Polynesia, which means “many islands.”

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Etymology

Origin of Polynesia

C18: via French from _poly- + Greek nēsos island

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Polynesia

Here, Armstrong, who lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., discusses how he and his brother approach conflict, the risks of adventure travel and swimming with whales in French Polynesia.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026

In September 2024, China carried out its first intercontinental ballistic missile test in decades, launching a dummy warhead from Hainan island in southern China into waters near French Polynesia in the Pacific Ocean.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026

The flight from Melbourne was headed to Dallas on Friday when it was forced to make a stop-off in Papeete, the capital of French Polynesia, due to the disruptive passenger.

From Barron's ● May 17, 2026

The woman had flown from San Francisco on 7 May and travelled through the island of Tahiti and then Mangareva in French Polynesia, the French Polynesian government said.

From BBC ● May 13, 2026

Chiefdoms have arisen pristinely even more often, in all of the same regions and in North America’s Southeast and Pacific Northwest, the Amazon, Polynesia, and sub-Saharan Africa.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

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