Showing results for Torres Strait. Search instead for torres straits.

Torres Strait

American

[tawr-iz, tor-] / ˈtɔr ɪz, ˈtɒr- /

noun

a strait between NE Australia and S New Guinea. 80 miles (130 km) wide.

Torres Strait British

/ ˈtɒr-, ˈtɔːrɪz /

noun

a strait between NE Australia and S New Guinea, linking the Arafura Sea with the Coral Sea. Width: about 145 km (90 miles)

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples make up about four percent of the population.

From Barron's • Jan. 26, 2026

Between 1993 and 2019, sea levels in the Torres Strait rose by about 6 cm per decade, the court was told.

From BBC • Jul. 15, 2025

But, as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people make up less than 4% of the national population, their struggles rarely translate into national voting issues, experts say.

From BBC • Oct. 26, 2024

And between 2020 and 2022, the life expectancy of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders was estimated to be eight years shorter than non-Indigenous Australians.

From BBC • Oct. 21, 2024

Australian languages and New Guinea’s Papuan languages are unrelated not only to Asian languages but also to each other, except for some spread of vocabulary in both directions across Torres Strait.

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

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023