Meaning & use

sea level

noun·Academic

The average height of the ocean's surface, used as a standard reference point for measuring land elevation.

See it in a sentence

The city sits barely two meters above sea level, so it floods easily during storms.

Mountaineers often note how oxygen becomes scarce at altitudes far above sea level.

A note on using this word

Sea level is usually written as two words as a noun, but hyphenated as a modifier before another noun, as in 'sea-level rise'.

Words with a similar meaning

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