archipelagos

Noun

archipelago (plural archipelagoes or archipelagos)

1. (archaic) Preceded by the, and often in the form Archipelago: the Aegean Sea.
   • [M]any other iles within the Archpelago that is yͤ Gulf be twix Grese and Turkye that cometh from the Grekes see in to the grete see before Constantynople, thorow the brace of Seynt George·c. 1502, Richard Arnold, “The Copye of a Carete Compasyng the Cireuet of the Wolde and the Compace of Euery Yland Comprehendid ī the Same”, in [Francis Douce], editor, The Customs of London...
2. (broadly) A sea or other body of water with many islands.
3. (broadly, collective) A group of many islands.
   • I have not met with any account of the land birds being so tame, in any other quarter of the world, as at the Galapagos and Falkland Islands. And it may be observed that of the few archipelagoes of any size, which when discovered were uninhabited by man, these two are among the most important.1839, Charles Darwin, chapter XIX, in Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty’s Ships Adventure and Beagle, between the Years 1826 and 1836, […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […]...
4. (figuratively) A thing comprising many other scattered things.
   • the Gulag Archipelago
   1. (figuratively) A cross-game modification system that randomizes in-game abilities and items scattered across multiple and different modded games
      • This is a cross-game randomizer that connects three of my favorite FNaF games into one: called an Archipelago; I start with the bare minimum to begin each game and every item, checkpoint, ability that I'll need to beat all three, must be unlocked as checks.2026 July 24, David Lett, “I tried a 3 FNAF game CROSS-RANDOMIZER”, in YouTube

See all 6 meanings of archipelago