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• pueblo
  pueblo

  noun

  a communal structure for multiple dwelling and defensive purposes of certain agricultural Indians of the southwestern United States: built of adobe or stone, typically many-storied and terraced, the structures were often placed against cliff walls, with entry through the roof by ladder.
• Pueblo
  Pueblo

  noun

  a city in central Colorado.

pueblo

¹ American  

[pweb-loh, pwe-blaw] / ˈpwɛb loʊ, ˈpwɛ βlɔ /

noun

pueblos plural

1. a communal structure for multiple dwelling and defensive purposes of certain agricultural Indians of the southwestern United States: built of adobe or stone, typically many-storied and terraced, the structures were often placed against cliff walls, with entry through the roof by ladder.

2. (initial capital letter) a member of a group of Indian peoples living in pueblo villages in New Mexico and Arizona since prehistoric times.

3. an Indian village.

4. (in Spanish America) a town or village.

5. (in the Philippines) a town or a township.

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Pueblo ² American  

[pweb-loh] / ˈpwɛb loʊ /

noun

1. a city in central Colorado.

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pueblo ¹ British  

/ ˈpweβlo, ˈpwɛbləʊ /

noun

1. a communal village, built by certain Indians of the southwestern US and parts of Latin America, consisting of one or more flat-roofed stone or adobe houses

2. (in Spanish America) a village or town

3. (in the Philippines) a town or township

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Pueblo ² British  

/ ˈpwɛbləʊ /

noun

1. a member of any of the North American Indian peoples who live in pueblos, including the Tanoans, Zuñi, and Hopi

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Pueblo ³ British  

/ ˈpwɛbləʊ /

noun

1. a city in Colorado: a centre of the steel industry. Pop: 103 648 (2003 est)

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• prepueblo
  adjective

Inflected Forms

noun

• pueblos
  plural

Etymology

Origin of pueblo

An Americanism dating back to 1800–10; from Colonial Spanish; Spanish: “town,” from Latin populus “community, people, nation”; cf. people ( def. )

Explanation

If your home is in a pueblo, you probably live in the southwestern part of the United States, in a community of adobe houses. This noun of Spanish origin refers to a structure and institution of Native American origin: a communal village consisting of contiguous, multistory flat-roofed houses. Spanish explorers of the American Southwest were the first to use the word pueblo. The ultimate root, populus, is Latin and is related to population and people. Today, the state of New Mexico is home to the greatest number of pueblos still in use.

Example Sentences

“In the beginning there was nothing but Spider Woman,” say Navajo and Pueblo elders.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 15, 2026

The North American portfolio centers around Barrick’s majority owned Nevada gold venture with Newmont, the wholly-owned Fourmile discovery in Nevada, and the Pueblo Viejo mine in Dominican Republic that is minority owned by Newmont.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 5, 2026

One of the boats had departed Pucallpa to the north on Sunday and was travelling towards the riverside communities of Caco Macaya, Curiaca del Caco, and Pueblo Nuevo del Caco, local media reports.

From BBC • Dec. 1, 2025

Fellow congregants at Jaramillo’s longtime church, Good Shepherd Fellowship in Pueblo, regularly asked him to perform Christian songs — a favorite was “The Blood That Jesus Shed for Me” by gospel pioneer Andraé Crouch.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 26, 2025

From the Pueblo communities of the Southwest, travelers took roads eastward onto the semiarid plains along tributaries of the Pecos River.

From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz