Aral Sea

UK: /ˈærəl/ US: (ar′əl; Russ. u räl′)

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

Ar′al Sea′  (ar′əl; Russ. u räl′), 

an inland sea between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, E of the Caspian Sea. 26,166 sq. mi. (67,770 sq. km). Also called Lake Aral. Russian, A•ral•sko•ye Mo•re  (u räl′skə yə mô′ryə). 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

Aral Sea / ˈærəl/ noun

1. a lake in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, east of the Caspian Sea, formerly the fourth largest lake in the world: shallow and saline, now badly polluted; use of its source waters for irrigation led to a loss of over 50% of its area between 1967 and 1997. Area originally (to 1960) about 68 000 sq km (26 400 sq miles); water area reduced by 2004 to about 17 158 sq km (6625 sq miles); the lake divided into the North Aral Sea and South Aral Sea, and these divided into further sections; in 2014, the eastern section of the South Aral Sea dried up completely
   Also called: Lake Aral