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Black Sea

Black Sea

9 3.3
A sea between southeastern Europe and western Asia that borders countries like Turkey and Ukraine
  • proper noun
translation icon : Mar Negro
  • Breaking news, the Russian armed forces are now revealing the information they've acquired from both of their landing sites and have declared the Black Sea a demilitarized zone.
  • Black Sea region
  • Black Sea Fleet
  • Black Sea port

It's along the Black Sea in modern day Turkey.

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Examples

  • Report by Soviet high command on their recent naval exercises in the Black Sea.

  • Go to the port town of Varna, on the Black Sea.

  • I was born on a small island in the Black Sea.

  • It's along the Black Sea in modern day Turkey.

  • The resulting flood forced the abandonment of the Black Sea settlements.

    Academic text (2004)
  • In other words, the Black Sea basin is regarded as the "soft underbelly" of the Russian homeland.

    Academic text (2000)
  • The oil is put onboard the tankers, shipped across the Black Sea, down to Istanbul.

  • The city of Stavropol is in the Caucasus, an area in Russia between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea.

    Academic text (1994)
  • According to the Montreux Convention, Turkey controls the Black Sea navigation routes of Romania, Bulgaria, and the CIS.

    Academic text (1992)
  • I was born on a small island in the Black Sea.

Synonyms

Euxine Sea
vsBlack Sea
  • Archaic
9.9

An old name for the Black Sea between southeastern Europe and western Asia

is the modern neutral name used in everyday geography

Surface Forms

Black Sea main

Morphology

Black + sea

The phrase is compositionally built from 'black' + 'sea', so a B1 learner who knows both words will understand it denotes a sea (i.e., a large body of water) and likely recognise it as a named body of water. However, as a proper name the specific geographic referent and the reason for the adjective 'Black' are not predictable from the constituents, so the full meaning/usage is not completely derivable without prior exposure.

Etymology

Black Sea comes from an old naming idea: people used colors for directions, and the color black meant 'north', so the sea to the north was called the Black Sea, which is why that name stuck for the sea between Europe and Asia.