Inuit
Americannoun
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Inuits,
plural
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Inuit
plural
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a member of a group of Indigenous peoples inhabiting northernmost North America from northern Alaska to eastern Canada and Greenland.
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the language of the Inuit, a member of the Eskimo-Aleut family comprising a variety of dialects.
noun
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any of several Native peoples of N America or Greenland, as distinguished from those from Asia or the Aleutian Islands (who are still generally referred to as Eskimos); the preferred term for Eskimo in N America Compare Yupik
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the language of these peoples; Inuktitut
Sensitivity
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of Inuit
First recorded in 1755–65; from Inuit: literally, “people,” plural of inuk “person”
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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Even Inuit from our community would be watching us outside through their windows and being like, ‘Oh my God, you guys are crazy. Are you guys OK?’
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026
Most notably, they created apprenticeship programs across various departments — including camera, sound, production design, catering — to teach Inuit and other local northern residents about the filmmaking process.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026
Greenlanders and other Inuit peoples have hunted seals for their meat and skin for centuries, but international bans have collapsed sealskin markets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2026
One of the victims, Henriette Berthelsen, told AFP the conclusions, regardless of what is decided, were skewed from the start since no Greenlandic Inuit were appointed as experts.
From Barron's ● Aug. 28, 2026
Two years later, as the Parks Canada team continued its search for the second missing vessel, another Inuit person would play a key role in a second great discovery.
From "Shipwrecked!" by Martin W. Sandler
As a proportion of males between the ages of 18 and 60, this equates to an estimated 2% of Chukchi, 1.4% of Russian Inuits, 1.32% of Koryaks and 0.8% of Khanty.
From BBC ● Feb. 19, 2026
He had brought smallpox with him, and the disease raced around the island, killing Inuits and Europeans alike.
From Science Magazine ● Sep. 26, 2023
On April 6, 1909, American explorers Robert E. Peary and Matthew A. Henson and four Inuits became the first men to reach the North Pole.
From Washington Times ● Apr. 6, 2021
This is the traditional homeland of the Nenets people: animist reindeer herders who have more in common with Inuits or Greenlanders than with any classically “European” or “Asian” peoples.
From Slate ● Feb. 13, 2017
The Inuits crossed to the King William Land side on the 17th.
From Schwatka's Search by William H. (William Henry) Gilder
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
