archipelagic
1
8.6
- adjective
- /ˌɑːrkɪˈpɛlədʒɪk/
- As an archipelagic nation, the Philippines faces unique challenges in transportation and resource management across its many islands.
- archipelagic passage
- archipelagic waters
Examples
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The Philippines successfully argued for an exceptional system of archipelagic waters that allows waters inside an island group to be considered a unit (like internal or territorial waters).
Academic text (2016) -
The archipelagic nature of Indonesia makes it crucial for the government to improve sea connectivity between its islands.
-
Indonesia, with its archipelagic character, has focused on improving its sea transportation and shipping facilities to link its far-flung territories.
Academic text (1992) -
Its status as an archipelagic state of more than fourteen thousand islands, spanning more than 5,000 kilometers from Sumatra to West Irian, encourages the dissipation of state power away from the center.
Academic text (2001) -
Tourism in archipelagic regions, like the Maldives, often relies on boat services to connect various islands for visitors.
Surface Forms
Morphology
archipelagic = archipelago (transparent) = archipelago + ic
Formed by adding the productive adjectival suffix '-ic' to 'archipelago', yielding 'relating to an archipelago', which is directly derivable.
Etymology
The word archipelagic comes from the word archipelago, which has Greek parts archi- 'main' and pelagos 'sea'. It first named a large sea and later came to mean a 'group of islands', so archipelagic means 'relating to many islands'.