Bambara
Americannoun
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a Mande language that is used as a trade language in the upper Niger drainage basin in Africa.
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a member of an agricultural, Mande-speaking people of Mali.
noun
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a member of a Negroid people of W Africa living chiefly in Mali and by the headwaters of the River Niger in Guinea
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the language of this people, belonging to the Mande branch of the Niger-Congo family
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.
He delivered the message in both the Bambara and Fulani languages, a sign that he hopes to unite the different communities in Mali.
From Barron's • Jan. 14, 2026
Dozens of immigrants listened to proceedings on headsets with access to simultaneous translations in Wolof, Haitian Creole, Arabic, French, Fula and Bambara.
From Seattle Times • Apr. 16, 2024
In 2019, a video of Keïta, speaking in the Bambara language and addressing IBK directly, went viral.
From BBC • Aug. 28, 2023
Koité’s songs, with lyrics in Bambara, French and occasionally English, are built on rippling African polyrhythms, but such lilting tunes as “Baro” also feature vocal harmonies akin to California folk rock.
From Washington Post • Nov. 16, 2022
He was forced to start for Bambara alone, and destitute of resources.
From Celebrated Travels and Travellers Part 2. The Great Navigators of the Eighteenth Century by Benett, Léon
Definitions 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.