1. Any sea, or sheet of water, in which there are numerous islands: In her science book, Jill read about the many scattered islands in an ocean termed as archipelagoes.
2. A large group of islands: An example of a cluster of the many land masses smaller than a continent and surrounded by water is the Philippine archipelago.
3. A sea containing a large number of scattered islands; island group; island chain: One intriguing archipelago at the southern point of the Red Sea can be read about in Martin's textbook.

The Aegean Islands, the Bahamas, the Hawaiian Islands, and the Maldives are all typically archipelago, or collections of islands.