nounone of the three divisions of islands in the Pacific (the others being Micronesia and Polynesia): includes Fiji, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, the Bismarck Archipelago, and the Louisiade, Solomon, Santa Cruz, and Loyalty Islands, which all lie northeast of Australia
Word origin
C19: from Greek
melas black +
nēsos island; with reference to the dark skins of the inhabitants; on the model of
Polynesia