Atoll

//ˈætɒl// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A type of island consisting of a ribbon reef that nearly or entirely surrounds a lagoon and supports, in most cases, one to many islets on the reef platform.
  2. 2
    an island consisting of a circular coral reef surrounding a lagoon wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
aitarchipelagobarcaycontinental islandcoral head

Example

More examples

"The US Navy took over the atoll in 1934."

Etymology

Borrowed from Portuguese atol, from Dhivehi އަތޮޅު (atoḷu), possibly from Prakrit *𑀲𑀁𑀢𑀻𑀞 (*saṃtīṭha), from Sanskrit *संतीर्थ (*saṃtīrtha, “level ford”). The traditional etymology from Persian آبتل (âb-tal, “water-hillock”) is unlikely.

Related phrases

atoll fruit dovecoral reef

More for "atoll"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.