ocean
- noun
- /ˈoʊʃən/
- 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?
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Over the years, an ocean of water, glass by glass by glass.
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And for all I love the ocean, I really hate cold water.
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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
A very large amount of something that seems endless
A wide open area like land or water
A very large size or amount that feels endless
Idioms
Compounds
The largest and deepest ocean that lies between Asia and Australia in the west and the Americas in the east
- Specialized
A steady movement of sea water in one direction that moves heat around the planet
- Specialized
A fish with an eel-like body and a pouting mouth that lives in cold Atlantic coastal waters
A very large round flat sea fish with tall fins and a short tail that lives in warm oceans
How Vast
Surface Forms
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.