oceanicadj.
/ˌəʊʃɪˈanɪk/, /ˌəʊsɪˈanɪk/, U.S. /ˌoʊʃiˈænɪk/ 1.
a. Of or relating to the ocean; situated or living in or by the ocean; flowing into the ocean.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > water > sea or ocean > [adjective] > relating to or existing in ocean
oceanic1656
oceanine1656
pelagic1656
pelagious1661
pelagian1696
oceanous1730
pantopelagian1857
pelagial1899
1656 T. Blount Glossographia Oceanick, Oceanine, belonging to the Ocean or Main Sea.
1755 S. Johnson Dict. Eng. Lang. Oceanick, Pertaining to the ocean.
1790 Coll. Voy. round World VI. xvii. 2116 Gulls, petrels, and other oceanic birds.
1830 C. Lyell Princ. Geol. I. 244 The population of all oceanic deltas are particularly exposed to suffer by such catastrophes.
1859 C. Darwin Origin of Species iv. 105 An oceanic island at first sight seems to have been highly favourable for the production of new species.
1869 G. Rawlinson Man. Anc. Hist. 12 The rivers of the circumjacent plains are..oceanic, i.e. they mingle themselves with the waters of the great deep.
1904 J. Conrad Nostromo i. ii. 6 The Oceanic Steam Navigation Company.
1928 F. S. Russell & C. M. Yonge Seas x. 231 In the Pacific..there is a system of oceanic currents much after the manner of that in the Atlantic.
1989 J. Downer Supersense (BNC) 11 The shark's prodigious hunting skills earned it a similar position [of loathing and reverence] among oceanic peoples.
1991 A. Milne Fate of Dinosaurs (BNC) 49 Oceanic life started, probably, in the Algonkian period, somewhere between 670 million and 600 million years ago.
b. Biology and Oceanography. Of, relating to, or inhabiting the open sea beyond the edge of the continental shelf; (also) spec. denoting the parts of the pelagic zone where the depth is greater than 200 metres (cf. neritic adj.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > water > sea or ocean > region of sea or ocean > [adjective] > upper parts
oceanic1851
neritic1891
photic1903
euphotic1909
1851 S. P. Woodward Man. Mollusca i. 12 The oceanic-snail, and multitudes of other floating molluscs, pass their lives on the open sea.
1902 Encycl. Brit. XXXIII. 936/2 The majority of the oceanic epiplankton appears to be stenothermal.
1942 H. U. Sverdrup et al. Oceans viii. 278 The oceanic province has an upper lighted zone and a lower dark zone.
1953 E. Palmer tr. S. P. Ekman Zoogeogr. Sea xiv. 312 The coastal organisms..are termed neritic and they are contrasted with the open-sea organisms; the latter are often called simply oceanic, but this term is less exact.
1966 B. B. Baker et al. Gloss. Oceanogr. Terms (ed. 2) 121/1 The [pelagic] division is made up of the neritic province which includes the water shallower than 100 fathoms (200 meters), and the oceanic province which includes that water deeper than 100 fathoms.
1993 E. N. K. Clarkson Invertebr. Palaeontol. & Evol. (ed. 3) viii. 244/1 Westermann..suggests that ammonoids colonized virtually all neritic and oceanic habitats down to a depth of 800m and probably more.
1997 BBC Wildlife Mar. 20/3 Beaked whales are oceanic, deep divers and very inconspicuous.
c. Geology. Of, relating to, or denoting the part of the earth's crust underlying the ocean basins.Earliest in oceanic crust n. at Compounds.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > [adjective] > crust > parts of
oceanic1863
sial1922
simatic1922
1863 J. D. Dana Man. Geol. 733 While the Alps may have been elevated by the tension within the oceanic crust, the Juras appear to have been a reacting effect of elevation in the region of the Alps.
1876 Proc. Royal Soc. 1875–6 24 471 (heading) Preliminary Report on Oceanic Deposits.
1880 W. B. Carpenter in 19th Cent. No. 38. 596 The proper oceanic area is a portion of the crust of the earth..depressed with tolerable uniformity some thousands of feet below the land area.
1946 L. D. Stamp Britain's Struct. & Scenery xii. 144 The area of most intense Alpine folding in Europe coincides with the great oceanic trough of deposition in earlier Tertiary times known as the Tethys.
1962 Proc. Royal Soc. 1961–2 A. 265 386 The principal discovery about oceanic geology is that it is quite different from continental geology.
1990 P. Kearey & F. J. Vine Global Tectonics iii. 44 The true junction between continental and oceanic lithosphere is taken to be at some isobath marking the midpoint of the continental slope.
2001 New Scientist 10 Feb. 45/2 The oceanic rocks of the plateau then melted and recrystallised to form a light, continental-style rock called tonalite.
2. With capital initial. Of or relating to Oceania.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > named regions of earth > Pacific Islands > [adjective] > relating to Pacific islands and adjacent seas
Oceanian1822
oceanic1822
1822 tr. C. Malte-Brun Universal Geogr. I. 572 In the Oceanic countries a singular custom prevails: the princes, on their accession to the throne, change several words of the national language.
1842 J. C. Prichard Nat. Hist. Man 332 The Oceanic race, is, on the other hand, the most beautiful..of all the nations who inhabit the isles of the Great Southern Ocean.
1857 Chambers's Information for People (new ed.) II. 296/1 The native inhabitants of all these islands..forming the Oceanic section of the Mongolidæ in Dr. Latham's classification.
1937 Discovery Oct. 303/2 The origins of the Oceanic peoples and the remarkable affinities of culture between them and the Naga tribes of Assam.
1971 L. A. Boger Dict. World Pottery & Porcelain 248/1 In a general sense Oceanic pottery is primarily a woman's craft.
1992 Internat. Encycl. Linguistics III. 136/1 Oceanic languages constitute one of the two top-level subdivisions in the Eastern Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian languages.
3.
a. Resembling an ocean, ocean-like; of immense extent or magnitude; vast.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > intelligence, cleverness > high intelligence, genius > [adjective] > of mind, operations: broad, deep, strong
stronga1393
profounda1450
reachinga1500
ingenious1509
spacious1609
vast1610
vigorous1640
rugged1678
wide1717
broad1832
oceanica1834
in depth1959
a1834 S. T. Coleridge Notes Eng. Divines (1853) I. 209 His reading had been oceanic.
a1834 S. T. Coleridge Specimens of Table Talk (1835) II. 301 The body and substance of his [sc. Shakspere's] works came out of the unfathomable depths of his own oceanic mind.
1977 Language 53 391 One must at all times bear in mind, however, that this [sc. the philosophy of history] is a field of oceanic proportions.
1985 B. Unsworth Stone Virgin 83 The apartment was prey to a system of currents oceanic in complexity.
b. Psychology. Designating a longing for something vast and eternal, interpreted by Freud as nostalgia of the psyche for the ego-completeness of infancy; esp. in oceanic feeling.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > psychology > theory of psychoanalysis > theories of Freud > [noun] > sense of longing
oceanic feeling1930
1930 J. Riviere tr. S. Freud Civilization & its Discontents i. 8 It is a feeling which he would like to call a sensation of ‘eternity’, a feeling as of something limitless, unbounded, something ‘oceanic’... I cannot discover this ‘oceanic’ feeling in myself.
1930 J. Riviere tr. S. Freud Civilization & its Discontents i. 21 The ‘oceanic’ feeling, which I suppose seeks to reinstate limitless narcissism... I can imagine that the oceanic feeling could become connected with religion later on.
1944 O. Fenichel in Psychoanalytic Rev. 31 145 The masochist behaves masochistically because he has an oceanic longing for being united with a greater unity.
1971 P. Balogh Freud x. 109 The feeling described by Romain Rolland of being mystically identified with the universe Freud called an oceanic feeling.
1989 A. Storr Freud ix. 93 The oceanic experience is felt as deeply and inescapably authentic.
4. Of a climate: influenced by proximity to an ocean or sea and thus having a relatively small diurnal and annual range of temperature and relatively high precipitation. Cf. maritime adj. 3c.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > [adjective] > of or relating to climate > specific types of climate
excessive1830
insular1830
oceanic1849
continental1865
marine1865
Mediterranean1888
maritime1939
1849 C. C. Felton tr. A. Guyot Earth & Man v. 106 The oceanic climate, considered in the islands truly pelagic, favours the growth of an abundant vegetation.
1877 A. Geikie Elem. Lessons Physical Geogr. v. 351 An insular or oceanic climate is one where the difference between summer and winter temperature is reduced to a minimum, and where there is a copious supply of moisture from the large water-surface.
1922 W. G. Kendrew Climates of Continents xxix. 215 The east of the British Isles has a continental rather than oceanic rainfall régime.
1952 G. H. Dury Map Interpr. xiv. 153 It seems certain that the climate was more oceanic than it is to-day.
1993 Forestry 66 114 The mild oceanic climate is generally wet with a considerable excess of rainfall over evapotranspiration.
Compounds
oceanic crust n. Geology the crust underlying the earth's ocean basins, now known to consist of a layered system of dense basalts and gabbros, of relatively uniform thickness and often covered with a thinner sedimentary layer, and lacking the deep granitic layer characteristic of continental crust.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > [noun] > crust > parts of crust
oceanic crust1863
platform1880
sal1909
sima1909
sial1922
ocean crust1927
1863Oceanic crust [see sense 1c].
1928 W. A. J. M. van W. van der Gracht in Theory Continental Drift 56 The oceanic crust becomes..relatively more resistant than the one under the continents.
1944 A. Holmes Princ. Physical Geol. xvii. 373 Most of the oceanic crust seems to be like that of the deeper parts of the basaltic layers beneath the continents.
1984 A. C. Duxbury & A. Duxbury Introd. World's Oceans iii. 75 Continental crust has a density of 2.8 g/cm3 and is approximately 40 km thick, while oceanic crust is only about 7 km thick and has a density of 3.0 g/cm3.
1995 New Scientist 25 Nov. 33/1 The Pacific is..encircled by the ‘ring of fire’—subduction zones where the heavy, dense oceanic crust slides under the lighter more buoyant continental crust.
oceanic ridge n. Geology a ridge on the ocean floor; (now) spec. = mid-ocean ridge n. at mid-ocean adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > water > sea or ocean > region of sea or ocean > [noun] > undersea ridge
ridge system1819
oceanic ridge1915
sill1933
ridge1944
mid-ocean ridge1961
ocean ridge1961
1915 Bull. Amer. Geogr. Soc. 47 464 The grouping of the islands into belts..and the form of oceanic ridges and troughs are discussed.
1954 Proc. Royal Soc. A. 222 341 Three processes are described that might lead to the formation of oceanic ridges.
1989 K. Barratt Logic & Design (BNC) The plate tectonics that give rise to earthquakes, volcanoes, fold mountains and the oceanic ridges.
oceanic trench n. Geology = trench n. 5.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > water > sea or ocean > region of sea or ocean > [noun] > sea bed > trench or cavity in
alveus1670
basin1881
trench1903
foredeep1909
oceanic trench1945
ocean trench1956
1945 Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer. 56 654 Earthquake foci at given depths fall into definite places in a series of consecutive linear features... The normal order is..: (A) An oceanic trench, trough, or foredeep.
1968 R. W. Fairbridge Encycl. Geomorphol. 35 ‘Pacific’ tectonics are those associated with contemporary orthogeosynclines, island arcs, oceanic trenches and active foredeeps.
1990 P. Kearey & F. J. Vine Global Tectonics i. 5 It was..proposed that the oceanic crust is thrust back down into the mantle and resorbed at oceanic trenches.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1656