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ocean

ocean

70 1.0
A very large amount of something that seems endless
  • noun
  • /ˈoʊʃən/
translation icon : océano
  • Much more than a vast ocean separates the United States and China.

Examples

  • The result lets viewers feel as though they are swimming through an ocean of data.

    Academic text (1997)
  • What is an ocean but a multitude of drops?

  • Over the years, an ocean of water, glass by glass by glass.

  • And for all I love the ocean, I really hate cold water.

  • And I sit on the greatest and cheapest ocean of oil in the world.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • If you find yourself adrift in an ocean of possibilities, ask yourself:

    Academic text (2010)
  • That's love, Ted, it's like a path of light in an ocean of darkness.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • However, CO2 is only slowly removed into the deep oceans, a process that takes hundreds to thousands of years.

    Academic text (2002)
  • After Katrina, questions about met-ocean models took on a new urgency.

    Academic text (2007)
  • In his speech, he described the education gap as an ocean of disparity that needed to be addressed.

Synonyms

sea
vsocean
  • Informal
170 1.0

A very large amount of something that seems endless

refers to a very large quantity without stressing endlessness
expanse
vsocean
46 4.6

A wide open area like land or water

expresses large quantity or abundance rather than physical area
immenseness
vsocean
5.1

A very large size or amount that feels endless

is used as a metaphor for a vast or abundant amount

Idioms

2 3.8

A very small amount compared with what is needed

1 9.1

A very small amount with little effect on a big problem

9.6

To try to do something too big to finish

motion of my ocean
  • Literature
9.9

A deep feeling you have when something moves you deeply

A joking phrase that says skill matters more than size

Compounds

28 1.0

A large ocean between Africa, Asia, Australia, and the Southern Ocean

27 2.9

The bottom of the sea or ocean with plains, ridges, and trenches

A large ocean between the Americas and Europe and Africa

15 1.0

The largest and deepest ocean that lies between Asia and Australia in the west and the Americas in the east

ocean current
  • Specialized
8 3.1

A steady movement of sea water in one direction that moves heat around the planet

6 3.6

A large ship that carries people and things on long sea trips

The deepest parts of the ocean far below the surface

3 3.7

The lowest part of the sea where sand and mud rest

An ocean that surrounds Antarctica and stretches to 60 degrees south

1 1.4

A journey across the ocean by ship or boat

A cold ocean around Antarctica that people call the Southern Ocean

4.0

In the middle of an ocean far from land

4.4

The middle of an ocean far from any land

4.8

A red fish from the North Atlantic eaten for its firm white flesh

ocean pout
  • Specialized
9.9

A fish with an eel-like body and a pouting mouth that lives in cold Atlantic coastal waters

3.9

A nickname for Rhode Island, the smallest US state in New England

An exciting trip at sea to explore new places

A very large round flat sea fish with tall fins and a short tail that lives in warm oceans

How Vast

ocean
70 1.0
deluge
8 6.8
flood
75 2.4
stream
150 1.0
to trickle
70 3.4

Surface Forms

ocean singular
oceans plural

Etymology

Ocean was first the name for the huge sea, and because that sea felt endless, people began using ocean to mean a 'very large amount' of something. So calling something 'an ocean of' papers or experience means a great or almost endless amount.