pelagic
adjective
Did you know?
Pelagic comes to us from Greek, via Latin. The Greek word pelagikos became pelagicus in Latin and then pelagic in English. (Pelagikos is derived from pelagos, the Greek word for the sea—it is also a source of archipelago—plus the adjectival suffix -ikos.) Pelagic first showed up in dictionaries in 1656; a definition from that time says that Pelagick (as it was then spelled) meant "of the Sea, or that liveth in the Sea." Centuries later, writers are still using pelagic with the same meaning, albeit less frequently than its more familiar synonym oceanic.
Examples of pelagic in a Sentence
Terry Ward, AFAR Media, 11 Sep. 2025
Meanwhile, offshore, the Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge pulses with life: think harbor seals, black oystercatchers, and pelagic cormorants.
—Lewis Nunn, Forbes.com, 8 Aug. 2025
But since these pelagic fish spend most of their time at depths of 1,000 feet or more, and are typically only caught by ocean longliners, scientists are still trying to understand their biology and life histories.
—Dac Collins, Outdoor Life, 18 June 2025
The scientists noticed a drop in their prey, such as small pelagic fishes in the case of seals and smaller benthic sharks in the case of sevengill sharks.
—Rick Sobey, Boston Herald, 27 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for pelagic
Cite this Entry
“Pelagic.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pelagic. Accessed 4 Nov. 2025.
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pelagic
adjective
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