What does "seawater" mean?

1. (saltwater from the ocean) the salty water that makes up the seas and oceans. 2. (made of or using saltwater) describes something that is made of salty sea water or works with it.

seawater — meaning, definition & examples

Word

01saltwater from the ocean

B1 · Intermediate Uncountable noun

n. the salty water that makes up the seas and oceans.

n. the saline water of a sea or ocean. Uncountable in its general sense.

“After swimming in the ocean, his skin felt itchy from the dried seawater.”

“The desalination plant was designed to process thousands of litres of seawater per hour to provide drinking water for the coastal city.”

Synonyms

saltwater brine

Antonyms

freshwater

02made of or using saltwater

B2 · Upper Intermediate Technical

adj. describes something that is made of salty sea water or works with it.

adj. consisting of, associated with, or designed for use with seawater. Non-gradable; functions as an attributive adjective.

“The hotel has a large seawater swimming pool that overlooks the beach.”

“Engineers had to select specific alloys for the seawater cooling system to prevent rapid corrosion from the high salt content.”

Synonyms

marine saltwater

From Middle English seewater, se water, from Old English sǣwæter (“seawater”), equivalent to sea + water. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Seewoater (“seawater”), West Frisian seewetter (“seawater”), Dutch zeewater (“seawater”), Icelandic sjóvatn (“seawater”).

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.