Ur-ocean

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A primordial ocean.

    "This ur-ocean, however, to him is not one more god among others, as is Hesiod's and Homer's “deeply vortexed Okeanos”; for Thales this ocean is the one and only source from which the world springs, by condensation and evaporation."

  2. 2
    Panthalassa.

Example

More examples

"This ur-ocean, however, to him is not one more god among others, as is Hesiod's and Homer's “deeply vortexed Okeanos”; for Thales this ocean is the one and only source from which the world springs, by condensation and evaporation."

Etymology

Borrowed from German Urozean, equivalent to ur- + ocean.

More for "ur-ocean"

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.