MEDITERRANEAN

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does Mediterranean mean? 

• MEDITERRANEAN (noun)
  The noun MEDITERRANEAN has 1 sense:

1. the largest inland sea; between Europe and Africa and Asia

  Familiarity information: MEDITERRANEAN used as a noun is very rare.

• MEDITERRANEAN (adjective)
  The adjective MEDITERRANEAN has 1 sense:

1. of or relating to or characteristic of or located near the Mediterranean Sea

  Familiarity information: MEDITERRANEAN used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MEDITERRANEAN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The largest inland sea; between Europe and Africa and Asia

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

Mediterranean; Mediterranean Sea

Instance hypernyms:

sea (a division of an ocean or a large body of salt water partially enclosed by land)

Meronyms (parts of "Mediterranean"):

Aegean; Aegean Sea (an arm of the Mediterranean between Greece and Turkey; a main trade route for the ancient civilizations of Crete and Greece and Rome and Persia)

Tyrrhenian Sea (an arm of the Mediterranean between Italy and the islands of Corsica and Sardinia and Sicily)

Perejil (a small uninhabited Mediterranean islet claimed by both Morocco and Spain)

Ligurian Sea (an arm of the Mediterranean between northwest Italy and Corsica)

Ionian Sea (an arm of the Mediterranean Sea between western Greece and southern Italy)

Gulf of Sidra (wide inlet of the Mediterranean Sea on the north coast of Libya)

Gulf of Antalya (a gulf of the Mediterranean Sea in southwestern Turkey)

Cyprus (an island in the eastern Mediterranean)

Adriatic; Adriatic Sea (an arm of the Mediterranean between Slovenia and Croatia and Montenegro and Albania on the east and Italy on the west)

Abukir; Abukir Bay (a bay on the Mediterranean Sea in northern Egypt)

Malta (a strategically located island to the south of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea)

Corse; Corsica (an island in the Mediterranean; with adjacent islets it constitutes a region of France)

Sicilia; Sicily (the largest island in the Mediterranean)

Sardegna; Sardinia (an island in the Mediterranean to the west of Italy)

Aegadean Islands; Aegadean Isles; Aegates; Egadi Islands; Isole Egadi (a group of islands off the west coast of Sicily in the Mediterranean)

Crete; Kriti (the largest Greek island in the Mediterranean; site of the Minoan civilization that reached its peak in 1600 BC)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "Mediterranean"):

mare nostrum ((our sea) the Mediterranean to the ancient Romans)

Derivation:

Mediterranean (of or relating to or characteristic of or located near the Mediterranean Sea)

• MEDITERRANEAN (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Of or relating to or characteristic of or located near the Mediterranean Sea

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Context example:

Mediterranean countries

Pertainym:

Mediterranean (the largest inland sea; between Europe and Africa and Asia)

Derivation:

Mediterranean (the largest inland sea; between Europe and Africa and Asia)

 Context examples 

We had them in the Mediterranean, and we shall have them again.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

An island in the Mediterranean Sea, south of Turkey.

(Cyprus, NCI Thesaurus)

It predominantly affects middle age men of Mediterranean origin.

(Cervical Symmetrical Lipomatosis, NCI Thesaurus)

A country in Northern Africa, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Morocco and Tunisia.

(Algeria, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

It predominantly affects young people in the Mediterranean region.

(Alpha Heavy Chain Disease, NCI Thesaurus)

It is usually seen in people of Mediterranean origin.

(Fitzpatrick Skin Type IV, NCI Thesaurus)

The Greeks wept for joy when they beheld the Mediterranean from the hills of Asia, and hailed with rapture the boundary of their toils.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

A country in northern Africa, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Morocco and Tunisia.

(Algeria, NCI Thesaurus)

Others, like the Mediterranean diet, describe a traditional way of eating of a specific region.

(Diets, NIH: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases)

"Following a traditional Mediterranean diet that is high in plant-based foods and oily fish could be an easy, safe and effective way to reduce asthma symptoms in children," Professor Itsiopoulos said.

(Fish-Rich Diet Beneficial for Children with Asthma, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)