Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
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name
Ellipsis of Sargasso Sea.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A brown alga, of the genus Sargassum, that forms large, floating masses.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: gulfweed, sargasso weed, sargassum
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Also Sargasso: a confused, tangled mass or situation.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, figuratively, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A part of an ocean or sea characterized by floating masses of sargassos, like the Sargasso Sea.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
Topics: biology, geography, natural-sciences, oceanography
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Alternative letter-case form of sargasso (“a confused, tangled mass or situation”).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: alt-of, figuratively
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
brown algae with rounded bladders forming dense floating masses in tropical Atlantic waters as in the Sargasso Sea
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: gulfweed, sargassum, Sargassum bacciferum
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: brown algae
History
From sargasso. The capitalized form of the noun is probably a reference to the Sargasso Sea.
From Portuguese sargaço (“(originally) the Lisbon false sun-rose or woolly rock rose (Halimium lasianthum); (now) gulfweed, sargasso”), ultimately from Latin salicastrum (“kind of wild vine found in willow-thickets”), from salix (“plant of the genus Salix; willow”) + -astrum (suffix forming nouns expressing incomplete resemblance). Salix is derived from Proto-Indo-European *sl̥H-ik- (“willow”). The English word is cognate with French sargasse, Spanish sargazo. The capitalized form of sense 2 (“a confused, tangled mass or situation”), Sargasso, is probably a reference to the Sargasso Sea.
Across languages
12 source translations are retained for this English entry.
