# sea

Pronunciation: say "SEE" /siː/

## Noun

1. The great interconnected expanse of salt water that covers most of the planet; the ocean as a whole.
   - Simple: The huge body of salt water that covers most of the Earth.
   - _Early explorers crossed the open sea with little more than the stars to guide them._
   - _More than two-thirds of the planet's surface lies beneath the sea._
2. A large body of salt water, usually smaller than an ocean and partly enclosed by land or connected to an ocean, such as the Mediterranean Sea.
   - Simple: A large area of salt water, smaller than an ocean, such as the Red Sea.
   - _The warm sea between the two peninsulas connects to the ocean through a narrow strait._
   - _The Caribbean is a warm sea dotted with hundreds of islands._
3. Used before another noun or in compounds for things living, used, or found in or on the sea, or near it.
   - Simple: Used before another word for things that live in the sea, are used on it, or are found near it.
   - _Divers studied the strange sea creatures clustered around the reef._
   - _A cold sea wind swept across the harbor at dawn._
4. A vast or overwhelming quantity of something, resembling the sea in its size or restlessness.
   - Simple: A very large amount of something spread out like the ocean.
   - _The reporter faced a sea of raised hands at the press conference._
   - _A sea of paperwork buried the new clerk's desk within a week._
5. The waves or swell of the sea, especially when high or rough; also, a single large wave.
   - Simple: The waves on the sea, especially big rough ones, or one very large wave.
   - _The crew battened down the hatches as a heavy sea rose around them._
   - _A following sea pushed the small craft steadily toward the rocks._
6. A lake, especially one that is large or salty or brackish.
   - Simple: A lake, especially a very big one or one with salty water.
   - _The Caspian is the largest inland sea on Earth._
   - _A brackish sea spread across the basin, fed by mountain rivers._

## Other meanings

- (noun) A large, dark plain of rock on the Moon or another body, known as a mare.
- (noun) A very large lake of liquid hydrocarbon, such as methane or ethane.
- (noun) The constantly fluctuating swarm of gluons and short-lived quark–antiquark pairs inside a proton or other hadron, as gluons split into pairs that annihilate back into gluons.

## Origin

Inherited from Middle English "see," from Old English "sǣ," from Proto-Germanic "*saiwiz" (body of water). Its ultimate root is uncertain: it may come from a Proto-Indo-European word meaning "to be fierce" (related to Latin "saevus," wild or fierce), or from one meaning "to percolate, filter." It is cognate with Dutch "zee" and German "See."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/sea (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).