Rarotonga

American  

[rar-uh-tong-guh] / ˌrær əˈtɒŋ gə /

noun

1. one of the Cook Islands, in the S Pacific, 26 sq. mi. (67 sq. km).

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Rarotonga British  

/ ˌrɛərəˈtɒŋɡə /

noun

1. an island in the S Pacific, in the SW Cook Islands: the chief island of the group. Chief settlement: Avarua. Pop: 12 188 (2001). Area: 67 sq km (26 sq miles)

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Other Word Forms

• Rarotongan adjective

Example Sentences

Navy officer who is now Trump’s mineral czar, made a personal trip to Rarotonga, the most populous island.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 27, 2025

Off the coast of Rarotonga, the largest and most populous of the Cook Islands, a crowd of surfers, kayakers and swimmers gather around a large vaka, a traditional Polynesian catamaran.

From BBC • Dec. 9, 2024

The explorers arrived first on Rarotonga, the largest island in a chain now called the Cook Islands.

From Science Magazine • Sep. 22, 2021

About seven years ago he got into competitive ocean canoeing, and it has drawn him to events in Hawaii and Rarotonga in the Cook Islands.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 20, 2021

Mr. Percy Smith gives good reasons for the suggestion that the ancestors of the Maoris migrated from the Society Islands and from Rarotonga, and that their principal migration took place about five hundred years ago.

From The Long White Cloud by Reeves, William Pember