OCEANIC

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Oceanic mean? 

• OCEANIC (noun)
  The noun OCEANIC has 1 sense:

1. an eastern subfamily of Malayo-Polynesian languages

  Familiarity information: OCEANIC used as a noun is very rare.

• OCEANIC (adjective)
  The adjective OCEANIC has 3 senses:

1. relating to or occurring or living in or frequenting the open ocean

2. resembling the ocean in apparent limitlessness in extent or degree

3. constituting or living in the open sea

  Familiarity information: OCEANIC used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• OCEANIC (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An eastern subfamily of Malayo-Polynesian languages

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

Eastern Malayo-Polynesian; Oceanic

Hypernyms ("Oceanic" is a kind of...):

Malayo-Polynesian; Polynesian (the branch of the Austronesian languages spoken from Madagascar to the central Pacific)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "Oceanic"):

Tahitian (the Oceanic language spoken on Tahiti)

Maori (the Oceanic language spoken by the Maori in New Zealand)

Hawaiian (the Oceanic languages spoken on Hawaii)

Fijian (the Oceanic language spoken on Fiji)

• OCEANIC (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Relating to or occurring or living in or frequenting the open ocean

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Synonyms:

oceanic; pelagic

Context example:

pelagic whaling

Pertainym:

ocean (a large body of water constituting a principal part of the hydrosphere)

Derivation:

ocean (a large body of water constituting a principal part of the hydrosphere)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Resembling the ocean in apparent limitlessness in extent or degree

Context example:

the oceanic violence of his rage

Similar:

limitless; unlimited (having no limits in range or scope)

Derivation:

ocean (anything apparently limitless in quantity or volume)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Constituting or living in the open sea

Context example:

oceanic life

Similar:

marine (relating to or characteristic of or occurring on or in the sea)

Derivation:

ocean (a large body of water constituting a principal part of the hydrosphere)

 Context examples 

Primary division of the sea that includes the whole mass of water subdivided into neritic and oceanic zones.

(Pelagic, NOAA Paleoclimate Glossary)

The natural oceanic cycles of phosphorus and nitrogen are also at risk.

(Oceans running out of oxygen at unprecedented rate, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Where a sinking, or subducting, oceanic plate dives beneath another oceanic plate, an island arc of volcanoes forms.

(Major deep carbon sink linked to microbes at volcanic island chains, National Science Foundation)

Typically, Mars’ crust has been considered at least as dense as Earth’s oceanic crust, which is about 2,900 kilograms per meter cubed (about 181 pounds per cubic foot).

(New Gravity Map Suggests Mars Has a Porous Crust, NASA)

Extensive loss of sea ice in the Arctic will likely accelerate, further threatening oceanic ecosystems and productivity, and amplifying weather extremes at lower latitudes.

(Warming at the poles will have global consequences, National Science Foundation)

While the effect of the historical conversion of forests to cropland was clear in the scientific analysis for the mid-latitudes, it was less clear in the tropics, where the amount of cropland conversion is smaller and where large-scale oceanic variability plays a more significant role.

(Forests minimize severe heat waves, NOAA)

Co-author of the study and senior scientist at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Michael McPhaden, tells SciDev.Net: “The MJO contributes to flooding, dry spells, heat waves, severe tropical storms and other extreme weather events in the far reaches of the globe.

(Global disasters linked to warming Indo-Pacific seas, SciDev.Net)

These findings are very important for our understanding of oceanic food webs because the variety and turnover rate of the plankton communities mean that larger organisms which feed on the plankton will come into contact with different sets of microbes that could contain pathogens and harmful microorganisms.

(Study by UGR and MIT reveals microbial plankton live in complex communities, University of Granada)

Evidence increasingly suggests that this oceanic current system is slowing down, and some scientists fear it could have major effects, such as causing temperatures to dive in Europe and warming the waters off the eastern coast of the USA, potentially harming fisheries and exacerbating hurricanes.

(A new study is the first to measure the time lags between changing ocean currents and major climate shifts., University of Cambridge)

During 2017’s Hurricane Irma, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that a simultaneous space weather event brought down radio communications used by first responders, aviation and maritime channels for eight hours on the day the hurricane made landfall.

(Newest solar telescope produces first images, National Science Foundation)