North Sea
9
1.6
- proper noun
:
Mar del Norte
- We were heading back over the North Sea from Bremen.
- North Sea crude
- North Sea coast
- found in the North Sea
So at the top, an oil rig, we still are producing oil in the North Sea in the UK and some of that finds its way into our vehicles and other uses.
- So at the top, an oil rig, we still are producing oil in the North Sea in the UK and some of that finds its way into our vehicles and other uses.
- We've put in great forests of beautiful wind turbines on the drowned prairies of Dogger land between Britain and Holland in the North Sea.
- It was Sealand Sealand, which is a, a platform in the North Sea.
- He he was with the crew that was fixing some gas stuff underwater structure out in the North Sea.
Examples
-
Oil exploration in the North Sea represented the most conspicuous example.
Academic text (1999) -
Scotland said they would keep all the North Sea oil for themselves.
-
We'll be over the North Sea in 10 minutes.
-
We'll be over the North Sea in ten minutes.
Fiction book (1990) -
How extraordinary to return to the North Sea!
-
News coming in that the famous Radio Rock has a large hole in its side and is therefore sinking into the North Sea.
-
We're going to drown in the freezing waters of the North Sea.
-
A mist covered no-man's-land, and there was a feeling of rain clouds coming off the North Sea.
Fiction book (1994) -
Dunstanburgh, a dramatic ruin, stands on an outcrop of Whinsill 100 feet above the North Sea.
Academic text (1999) -
The boat, aptly named Adventure, sailed across the North Sea to Scandinavia.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'north' (a direction/region) + 'sea' (a large body of saltwater) indicates a sea located to the north, so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer it's a sea in the northern area. This naming pattern is common cross-linguistically (e.g. Mer du Nord, Mar del Norte, Noordzee), supporting clear transparency.
Etymology
North Sea is a name that comes from a simple idea: it is the sea on the north side of mainland Europe. That's why today North Sea means the sea between Great Britain and Scandinavia and the nearby coasts.