by the sea
25
1.0
- idiom
:
junto al mar
- They live in a beautiful cottage by the sea where they can hear the waves.
- live by the sea
- cottage by the sea
- house by the sea
Sometimes I think being by the sea is such a huge destresser.
- Sometimes I think being by the sea is such a huge destresser.
- And that's why I think so many artists live by the sea and so many artists, you know, isolate themselves in a little cabin.
- Yeah, that's the man the people that give land by the sea and and and vegetation for for for all the the people in the community right.
- You know, she grew up by the she grew up by the sea after she relocated to Haifa, which after, you know, Jerusalem, we want that.
Examples
-
Tomorrow we go to a small town by the sea.
-
Once, not so long ago, a storyteller came to a quiet village by the sea and was made welcome.
Fiction book (2000) -
Sell up then, move to some place by the sea.
-
Nothing better than eating something sweet by the sea.
-
Tell him we camp tonight by the sea!
-
I grew up by the sea, he said; it was my ticket to peace.
Fiction book (1997) -
We found a lovely villa by the sea.
-
They live in a big place by the sea.
-
Once upon a time, in a kingdom by the sea, there lived a little princess named Lenore.
Fiction book (1999) -
Longfellow was born by the sea, in Portland, Maine, in 1807.
Academic text (2011)
Synonyms
15
3.5
Located on land near the sea or moving from the sea toward the land
1
4.2
Close to the shore of the sea
1
1.4
Next to a beach, often with views of the sea
Toward or at the edge of a body of water
Next to the ocean, near the shore
How Close
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'situated close to or beside the sea' is directly and compositionally derived from 'by' (positioned close to) combined with 'sea' (a large body of saltwater); the definite article 'the' does not change the semantic transparency. This locative preposition + noun pattern is cross-linguistically common and follows standard English grammar, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will readily understand it.
Etymology
By the sea is a simple picture: by means next to and the sea is the ocean, so imagine a house standing right beside the water. That's why it means 'close to or beside the sea'.