oceanography

noun

ocean·​og·​ra·​phy ˌō-shə-ˈnä-grə-fē 

: a science that deals with the oceans and includes the delimitation of their extent and depth, the physics and chemistry of their waters, marine biology, and the exploitation of their resources

oceanographer

ˌō-shə-ˈnä-grə-fər 

noun

oceanographic

ˌō-shə-nə-ˈgra-fik 

adjective

or less commonly oceanographical

ˌō-shə-nə-ˈgra-fi-kəl 

oceanographically

ˌō-shə-nə-ˈgra-fi-k(ə-)lē 

adverb

Examples of oceanography in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Kara Lavender Law, an oceanography professor at the Sea Education Association who wasn’t involved in the study, agreed, based on U.S. plastic waste trends. —Amanda Gerut, Fortune, 4 Sep. 2024

Craig Smith, professor emeritus of oceanography at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa, called the geobattery hypothesis a reasonable explanation for the production of dark oxygen. —Katie Hunt, CNN, 22 July 2024

Studying shipwrecks has advanced in the last century to include a variety of disciplines, including archaeology, ecology, engineering, and oceanography. —Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi, Discover Magazine, 8 July 2024

Hal Whitehead would ask about oceanography, about changes in currents. —Ross Andersen, The Atlantic, 24 Feb. 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from German Ozeanographie, Oceanographie from Ozean, Ocean ocean + -o- -o- + -graphie -graphy (after Geographie geography, Aërographie "meteorology")

Note: The German word was apparently introduced by the German seaman and academic Eduard Bobrik (1802-70) in Handbuch der praktischen Seefahrtskunde, Band 1 (Zürich/Hamburg, 1846), p. 79 ff.

First Known Use

1859, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

oceanography

noun

ocean·​og·​ra·​phy ˌō-shə-ˈnäg-rə-fē 

: a science that deals with the ocean

oceanographer

ˌō-shə-ˈnäg-rə-fər 

noun

oceanographic

-nə-ˈgraf-ik 

adjective

oceanographically

-i-k(ə-)lē 

adverb