atoll
10
7.8
- noun
- /əˈtɔl/
- Tourists often visit the atoll to enjoy the serene waters of its enclosed lagoon.
- coral atoll
- Bikini Atoll
- Midway Atoll
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Watch on YouTubeThose bombs were exploded out in the Marshall Islands on atolls with no one around.
- Those bombs were exploded out in the Marshall Islands on atolls with no one around.
- Look at all these little atolls that they're turning into landing strips in the South China Sea, their stated aims on Taiwan.
- One was a, an, an explosion test at Bikini Atoll.
- Radiation survey teams will be flown back to the atolls, in which time a soil and water samples will be taken.
- And then we took this trip from Majuro to a neighboring atoll hour and back again, and documented as best we could to try to understand the traditions.
Examples
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Discover if the tiny atoll of Tuvalu is really sinking from global warming.
Academic text (2009) -
- Ever heard of the Bikini atoll?
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It's part of an atoll called Tarawa Atoll.
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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is trying to bring Midway Atoll back to its original ecological condition.
Academic text (1999) -
The first test of such a weapon was carried out in 1952 on Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands.
Academic text (2012) -
Recent translocation has established a second population on Midway Atoll, and its total population size is approaching 1,000 individuals.
Academic text (2012) -
Like most atolls, Clipperton originated as a fringing coral reef around a volcanic island.
Academic text (1996) -
Sikaiana is a small Polynesian atoll in the Solomon Islands located about 160 kilometers east of Malaita.
Academic text (1994) -
So you've got this atoll, which is basically the crater of an old volcano poking out of the Pacific Ocean with a few strands of beach ringing it.
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The beautiful coral reefs surrounding the atoll were teeming with colorful fish.
Synonyms
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1.0
A piece of land completely surrounded by water smaller than a continent
Compounds
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7.4
A ring of small islands in the northwestern Hawaiian Islands that is the site of the Battle of Midway
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7.9
A ring of small islands in the Marshall Islands where the United States tested nuclear bombs
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9.6
A ring of small coral islands in the western Marshall Islands that hosts a major United States military base
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9.9
A ring of islands in the Marshall Islands where the US tested nuclear bombs after a WWII battle
How Big
Surface Forms
Etymology
Atoll comes from the Maldivian (Dhivehi) word atholhu, the local name for the ring-shaped coral islands of the Maldives. Think of a 'ring' of coral around a 'lagoon'—that image explains why an atoll means a circular group of small islands with water in the middle.