Indian Ocean

American  

[in-dee-uhn oh-shuhn] / ˈɪn di ən ˈoʊ ʃən /

noun

1. an ocean south of Asia, east of Africa, and west of Australia, with its deepest section in the Java Trench. 27,243,268 square miles (70,560,000 square kilometers).

---

Indian Ocean British  

noun

1. an ocean bordered by Africa in the west, Asia in the north, and Australia in the east and merging with the Antarctic Ocean in the south. Average depth: 3900 m (13 000 ft). Greatest depth (off the Sunda Islands): 7450 m (24 442 ft). In December 2004 a major undersea earthquake off Sumatra triggered a tsunami which affected large areas of the ocean as far away as east Africa, and killed an estimated 226 435 people. Area: about 73 556 000 sq km (28 400 000 sq miles)

---

Indian Ocean Cultural  

1. Third-largest ocean (after the Atlantic Ocean and Pacific Ocean), extending from southern Asia to Antarctica and from eastern Africa to southeastern Australia.

---

Etymology

Origin of Indian Ocean

First recorded in 1580–90

Example Sentences

The Indian Ocean island is a net importer of fuel, most of which comes from Oman, just south of the crucial Strait of Hormuz.

From Barron's • Apr. 8, 2026

The waterway connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden in the Indian Ocean.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 26, 2026

It comes after it emerged Iran targeted the joint US-UK military base on the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean, around 3,800km from Iran.

From BBC • Mar. 22, 2026

Diego Garcia, located on a remote island in the British Indian Ocean Territory, is a strategic base where the U.S. hosts bombers, nuclear submarines and guided-missile destroyers.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 21, 2026

He lives with his two children, Merlin and Angel, and their mother, Maria, in the little guest house next to my house on the shore of the Indian Ocean.

From "My Life with the Chimpanzees" by Jane Goodall