Meaning & use
asea
Last updated
Meanings
adverbliteraryrare
Out on the ocean, far from land; sailing or floating on open water.
Grammar: Used after a verb such as be, go, or set, and never before a noun: the ship was asea, not 'an asea ship'.
Patterns
- be asea
- go asea
- set asea
- put to sea asea
By dawn the little fishing boat was asea, with no land in sight.
They went asea before sunrise and did not return until dark.
For three weeks the crew lived asea, eating nothing but salted fish and dry bread.
adverbfigurativeliterary
Confused and unsure what to do, as if lost on the water.
Grammar: Figurative use; it follows a linking verb such as be or feel, as in 'I felt asea'.
Patterns
- be asea
- feel asea
- be all asea
After the second round of questions, most of the class looked asea.
He felt completely asea in his new job, unsure who to ask for help.
Her sudden silence left me asea, guessing at what I had done wrong.
Common combinations
- be asea
- The tanker was asea for eleven days before it reached port.
- go asea
- They went asea in a small boat with only two oars.
- put to sea asea
- The captain put to sea asea despite the coming storm.
- all asea
- Without the map, we were all asea in the old town.
- look asea
- She looked asea when the teacher asked her to explain the rule.
Synonyms and how they differ
- at sea
- The everyday phrase for the same idea; use it in normal speech and writing, and keep 'asea' for literary or nautical style.
- offshore
- Means away from the shore but often still near it, while 'asea' suggests being out on open water.
- adrift
- Focuses on drifting without control rather than simply being out on the ocean.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: asea or a sea?
asea vs a sea
The two-word phrase is a noun phrase meaning 'one sea', as in 'a sea of faces'; the single word 'asea' is an adverb meaning out on the water.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'asea' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Asea' is an adverb used after a verb, so 'spent two months asea' fits. Options 1 and 4 use it before a noun, where 'asea' cannot go, and option 3 is wrong because walking on the beach is not being out on the ocean.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “asea”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.