Australasia
//ˌɔstɹl̩ˈæɪʒɐ// name
name ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Proper Noun
- 1 Synonym of Oceania: a continent or continental region composed of Australia, New Zealand and the islands of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia.
- 2 A continental region in Oceania, consisting of Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea and neighbouring islands.
Etymology
Borrowed from French Australasie, coined by French scholar and politician Charles de Brosses in 1756, from the Latin for “south of Asia”. By surface analysis, Austral- + Asia.
Related phrases
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.