Word.ws English Dictionary

sargasso

Syllables: sar·gas·so/sɑːˈɡæsəʊ//sɑɹˈɡæsoʊ/

sargasso noun: a brown alga, of the genus Sargassum, that forms large, floating masses.

Noun (1)

sargasso (countable and uncountable, plural sargassos or sargassoes)

  1. A brown alga, of the genus Sargassum, that forms large, floating masses.
    • SARGASSO, the Sea-Lentile.[1721, N[athan] Bailey, “SARGASSO”, in An Universal Etymological English Dictionary: […], London: […] E. Bell, J. Darby, […], →OCLC, column 2
    • Thus the productions of Jamaica, and other places bordering on the gulph of Mexico, may be firſt brought by the ſtream out of the gulph, inveloped in the ſargaſſo or alga of the gulph round Cape Florida, and hurried by the current either along the American ſhore, or ſent into the ocean in the...1785 April, “Arctic Zoology. 2 Vols. […] [book review]”, in The Critical Review: Or, Annals of Literature, volume LIX, London: Printed for A. Hamilton, […], →OCLC, page 248
  2. (figuratively) Also Sargasso: a confused, tangled mass or situation.
    • Afghanistan is a sargasso of wrecks from earlier civilizations; buried in its earth are hordes of Greek coins, Aramaic inscriptions, Saljuq mosques, and Mazdakite fire temples, flaking away in their own dust, forgotten in valleys where the local villagers carry away their bricks for cattle folds.1981, David Chaffetz, “On Pilgrimage”, in A Journey through Afghanistan: A Memorial, Chicago, Ill.: Regnery Gateway, →ISBN; new edition, Chicago, Ill.; London: University of Chicago Press, 2001...
    • His [Philip K. Dick's] ideas provide diegetic anchors for digitally oriented directors [...] whose works might otherwise float off into a Sargasso of insignificance.2005, Aaron Barlow, “Reel Toads and Imaginary Cities: Philip K. Dick, Blade Runner and the Contemporary Science Fiction Movie”, in Will Brooker, editor, The Blade Runner Experience: The Legacy of a...
  3. A part of an ocean or sea characterized by floating masses of sargassos, like the Sargasso Sea.
    • Of Sargassos or Weedy Seas. [...] [T]he most remarkable of them all, is that in the North Atlantic. [Christopher] Columbus passed through it on his first voyage of discovery to America. […] The sargassos of the southern hemisphere are not so well marked as this, nor are they as rich in drift or...1864, M[atthew] F[ontaine] Maury, “Book VI”, in Physical Geography for Schools and General Readers, London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, & Green, →OCLC, § 225, pages 100–101
    • [H]eld safe and sound, I'd find the South Equatorial at last, at last, and safe from all the Sargassoes, the Scillas and Charibs, I'd swoop beautifully and lightly, drifting with the sweet currents of the South down the edge of the Brazilian Highlands to the Waters of Peace.1971, Doris Lessing, Briefing for a Descent into Hell, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN; republished New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, August 1972, →ISBN, page 6

Noun (2) capitalized: Sargasso

Sargasso (plural Sargassos)

  1. (figuratively) Alternative letter-case form of sargasso (“a confused, tangled mass or situation”).
    • I cannot bear the striking of your colors, that Sargasso of / passionate forms.1977, Ben Belitt, “From the Firehouse: (Homage to Paul Feeley)”, in The Double Witness: Poems: 1970–1976, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, →ISBN; reprinted as The Double Witness...
    • His [Philip K. Dick's] ideas provide diegetic anchors for digitally oriented directors […] whose works might otherwise float off into a Sargasso of insignificance.2005, Aaron Barlow, “Reel Toads and Imaginary Cities: Philip K. Dick, Blade Runner and the Contemporary Science Fiction Movie”, in Will Brooker, editor, The Blade Runner Experience: The Legacy of a...

Proper noun capitalized: Sargasso

the Sargasso

  1. (abbreviation, ellipsis) Ellipsis of Sargasso Sea.

Examples of sargasso in a sentence

  • The Sargasso weed is also familiarly called tropical grapes, from being found in the vicinity of the northern tropic, but it is most generally known by the name of Sargasso or gulf-weed.1832 June, “[Maritime Papers, Reviews of Voyages, &c.] I.—Sargasso Weed.”, in The Nautical Magazine: A Journal of Papers on Subjects...
  • The sargassos of the South Atlantic are therefore small.1864, M[atthew] F[ontaine] Maury, “The Gulf Stream”, in The Physical Geography of the Sea, and Its Meteorology, 11th revised edition...
  • For the next five to ten years, they [turtles] will stay in the Sargasso Sea, feeding off the small sea animals that live in the floating mats of sargasso grass.1998 February, E[laine] L[obl] Konigsburg, The View from Saturday (A Jean Karl Book), 1st Aladdin Paperbacks edition, New York, N.Y....
  • The reels have spooled into a sargasso of celluloid; a projector stares from the end of the closet.2007, Steve Erickson, chapter 68, in Zeroville: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Europa Editions, →ISBN; republished New York, N.Y.: Open Road...

Synonyms of sargasso

Forms of sargasso

pluralsargassos
pluralsargassoes
pluralSargassos

Origin of sargasso

From Portuguese sargaço (“(originally) the Lisbon false sun-rose or woolly rock rose (Halimium lasianthum); (now) gulfweed, sargasso”), ultimately from Latin salicastrum (“kind of wild vine found in willow-thickets”), from salix (“plant of the genus Salix; willow”) + -astrum (suffix forming nouns expressing incomplete resemblance). Salix is derived from Proto-Indo-European *sl̥H-ik- (“willow”). The English word is cognate with French sargasse, Spanish sargazo. The capitalized form of sense 2 (“a confused, tangled mass or situation”), Sargasso, is probably a reference to the Sargasso Sea.

From sargasso. The capitalized form of the noun is probably a reference to the Sargasso Sea.

Words formed from sargasso

Phrases with sargasso

Words that rhyme with sargasso

Questions about sargasso

What does sargasso mean?
Sargasso means a brown alga, of the genus Sargassum, that forms large, floating masses.
How do you use sargasso in a sentence?
The Sargasso weed is also familiarly called tropical grapes, from being found in the vicinity of the northern tropic, but it is most generally known by the name of Sargasso or gulf-weed.
What part of speech is sargasso?
Sargasso can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce sargasso?
Sargasso is pronounced /sɑːˈɡæsəʊ/ (UK).
What is the plural of sargasso?
The plural of sargasso is sargassos.

Words near sargasso in the dictionary

  1. Sargans
  2. Sargant
  3. sargassa
  4. sargassaceous
  5. sargassan
  6. sargasso
  7. Sargasso Sea
  8. sargasso weed
  9. sargasso weeds
  10. sargassoes
  11. sargassos

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sargasso (page history and authors); Sargasso (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-sargasso.wav, en-us-sargasso.mp3.

Cite this entry: “sargasso.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sargasso. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.