marine
Noun pluralmarines
Pluralmarines
- 1Of, found in, living in, or formed by the sea, including the open ocean.
Marine sediments build up slowly on the ocean floor over millions of years.
The museum's marine exhibit features creatures that thrive in deep water.
UsageUsually before a noun: marine life, marine biology, marine mammals.
Note
The sense that stays closest to the Latin: Middle English marin, from Latin marinus, "of the sea", built on mare, "sea". The same ancient root gave Old English mere, a lake or pool, as well as Dutch meer and German Meer. Here marine describes what the sea itself holds or makes, such as sediments and creatures. The shipping sense concerns what people do on the water.
Checked 7 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Marine derives from Middle English marin, ultimately from Latin marinus, meaning 'of the sea', itself derived from mare, meaning 'sea'. en.wiktionary.org
- Old English mere, meaning a lake or pool, Dutch meer and German Meer share an ancient root with Latin mare. en.wiktionary.org
- 2A soldier, usually part of a marine corps, trained to serve aboard a ship or to launch operations from one.
Every marine in the unit completed months of amphibious training.
Two marines guarded the embassy gate around the clock.
UsageOften written with a capital for a member of a national corps: a US Marine.
Note
A soldier's word with one foot on deck: the marine fights aboard or from a ship rather than sailing it, which is what separates the word from sailor.
- 3Usually the Marines: a country's marine corps, the branch of the military whose soldiers are trained to fight at sea and ashore.
He served twenty years in the Marines before retiring as a colonel.
Recruiting for the Marines fell short of its goal for the second year running.
UsageWith the and usually in: serve in the Marines, join the Marines.
Note
The same plural can also mean a group of individual soldiers. Both meanings may be capitalized, so context tells you whether the institution or its members are meant.
- 4
- 5Designed or modified for use at sea.
The builders used marine plywood throughout the hull.
Marine sealant keeps water out of the deck fittings.
- 6The ships of a nation taken together, commercial, military, or both. Now used mainly in merchant marine, a nation's trading ships and their crews.
As its overseas trade grew, the country built up a large merchant marine of cargo ships and tankers.
He served in the merchant marine for ten years before settling ashore.
Note
An older collective use: a nation's marine was all its ships taken together, merchantmen and warships alike. Navy once had the same broad reach and could name any fleet of seagoing vessels. Today marine keeps this sense mainly in merchant marine, a nation's trading ships and the people who crew them. Elsewhere it reads as period language, and fleet says the same thing.
Checked 7 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Marine formerly meant a fleet of ships, whether commercial, military, or both. en.wiktionary.org
- Navy formerly could mean any fleet of seagoing vessels, including commercial vessels. en.wiktionary.org
Less common meanings
- 7A painting whose subject is the sea, ships, or some other scene connected with it.
The collector specialized in marines depicting stormy seas.
A small marine of a harbor at dawn hung in the study.
Similarseascape
- 8Lying beside the sea or having to do with the seaside; coastal.
Note
A coastal meaning that has dropped out of use: marine once placed a town or cottage at the seaside, where coastal or seaside now does the work. The main sea sense covers shores as well as open water, and only a narrower use sets marine, the high seas, against maritime or littoral, the shore; here the two were synonyms. Read it in older writing as "on the shore", and avoid it in your own.
Checked 7 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Marine historically meant situated at the seaside and was synonymous with maritime in that sense. en.wiktionary.org
- This distinction belongs to a particular zoological sense, rather than scientific usage generally. Marine also applies to shore and intertidal environments. sanctuaries.noaa.gov
- 9To adapt equipment, especially an engine built for use on land, so that it can work in a marine environment.
Marine engines, until 1949, included many truck engine blocks marined up.
1959, SAE Technical Paper Series - 10To provide a boat with the sailors and other crew needed for an ocean voyage.
And now, having marined this Royal Harry with as large a complement of men as I could muster, shall launch her.
1863, William Kirby, William Spence - 11To flood something temporarily with water or other sea-related substances.
I decided to love its drenching monopolies for it was like this: cartels of imported rain marined the yard with brackish-water jellies.
2006, Robin Becker, “Rain”
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Practice
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Origin
Recorded since around 1420 as Middle English marin, borrowed via Middle French and Old French from Latin marinus ("of the sea"), from mare ("sea"). Latin mare is cognate with Old English mere ("sea, lake, pool") and German Meer; all trace back to Proto-Indo-European *móri ("body of water"). The modern pronunciation is presumably influenced by modern French marine.