Phrase guide

seven seas

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

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

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

noun

Meaning 1

All the oceans of the world, in a common modern interpretation, the North and South Atlantic, North and South Pacific, Indian, Arctic and Antarctic Ocean, but historical interpretations differ widely.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: plural, plural-only, poetic

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Alternative letter-case form of seven seas.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: alt-of, plural, plural-only

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

an informal expression for all of the oceans of the world

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • the old salt had sailed the seven seas

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: body of water, water

History

Etymology

The modern association with the world oceans was popularized by The Seven Seas (Rudyard Kipling, 1896).

Across languages

Translations

16 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: اَلْبِحَار اَلسَّبْعَة (al-biḥār as-sabʕa) — all of the Earths oceans
  • Chinese Mandarin: 七海 (qīhǎi) — all of the Earths oceans
  • Danish: de syv have — all of the Earths oceans
  • Dutch: zeven zeeën — all of the Earths oceans
  • French: sept mers — all of the Earths oceans
  • German: sieben Meere — all of the Earths oceans
  • Greek: επτά θάλασσες (eptá thálasses) — all of the Earths oceans
  • Italian: sette mari — all of the Earths oceans
  • Japanese: 七つの海 (nanatsu no umi) — all of the Earths oceans
  • Norwegian Bokmål: de sju hav — all of the Earths oceans
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: dei sju hav — all of the Earths oceans
  • Polish: siedem mórz — all of the Earths oceans
  • Portuguese: sete mares — all of the Earths oceans
  • Russian: семь море́й (semʹ moréj) — all of the Earths oceans
  • Thai: เจ็ดคาบสมุทร — all of the Earths oceans
  • Thai: เจ็ดย่านน้ํา — all of the Earths oceans