mare nostrum
noun · n
Simple meaning
The Mediterranean to the ancient Romans.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
mehrnahstruhmSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈmɛɹnɑstɹəm
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
our sea
The Mediterranean to the ancient Romans
n
A board game for 3 to 5 players, designed by Serge Laget and published in 2003 by Eurogames.
A 1926 American silent war drama film directed by Rex Ingram.
A Roman term for the Mediterranean Sea.
A series of swimming meets with three meets around the Mediterranean in June annually.
Latin: "Our Sea"
A Roman name for the Mediterranean Sea.
The fourth studio album by the Italian symphonic black metal band Stormlord.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: (our sea) the Mediterranean to the ancient Romans
Used this way, mare nostrum is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in historical writing contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Historical writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.