Archipelago

A group or chain of islands; a large cluster of islands in a sea or ocean.

noun

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Imagine This

Imagine sailing on a bright blue sea and spotting a necklace of green islands stretching as far as the eye can see, each island separated by shimmering channels of water.

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Sounds Like

AR-kuh-PEL-uh-goh

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Looks Like

archi-PEL-uh-go; suggests arch (chief) + pelagos (sea)

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Remember This

The word comes from Italian arcipelago, which itself comes from Greek arkhipélagos meaning 'chief sea'. The 'archi-' element means 'principal' or 'chief'.

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Other Forms

archipelagosnoun

archipelagoesnoun

archipelagicadjective

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Connect With

island, island chain, pelagic, archipelagic

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Note

Use archipelago to refer to a group of islands. For an adjective, use archipelagic. Note common confusion with 'island' (singular) and 'archipelago' (plural concept).

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Study Deeper

Examples

Indonesia is the world's largest archipelago.
Greece has many archipelagos in the Aegean Sea.

Synonyms

island chainisland groupisland clusterchain of islands

Antonyms

continentmainland

Etymology

From Italian arcipelago, from Greek arkhi-pélagos meaning 'chief sea' (arkhi = chief, pelagos = sea).

Mnemonic

ARCHI-PELAGO: The chief sea with many islands; remember that archi means chief and pelagos means sea.

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verb

To correct something; to make it right by removing errors, or to repair or amend.

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A state of agreement or harmony among people or groups; a formal agreement or treaty between parties.

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Accent

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A distinctive way of pronouncing words; the act of emphasizing a syllable or word (as a verb, to accent means to emphasize).

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An honor; a public expression of praise or an award.

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Acronym

noun

A word formed from the initial letters of a phrase, pronounced as a single word and used as a shorthand for the full name (for example, NASA or radar).

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