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Sami

American  
[so-mee] / ˈsɒ mi /

noun

Samis, plural Sami plural
  1. a member of a Finnic people of northern Norway, Sweden, Finland, and adjacent regions.

  2. any of the languages of the Sami, closely related to Finnish.


Sami British  
/ ˈsɑːmɪ /

noun

  1. a member of the indigenous people of Lapland

  2. the language of this people, belonging to the Finno-Ugric family

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

adjective

  1. of or relating to this people or their language

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Usage

The indigenous people of Lapland prefer to be called Sami, although Lapp is still in widespread use

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

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.

See Examples For:

Sami, who has run his business there for 25 years, told the BBC: "You cannot have a ceasefire from one side, it's going to be an all side or no ceasefire."

From BBC Jun. 4, 2026

"The problem is you don't feel them coming. You're sitting there, and suddenly it arrives," said Shomera's council chief, Sami Zanetti.

From BBC May 28, 2026

Those are small figures compared to the hundreds of millions shipped by sector giants, but enough to keep the company profitable, according to chief executive Sami Pienimaki.

From Barron's Mar. 4, 2026

Sami Ponoroff, senior manager of programming for Lifetime, is an avid player and a member of a club called iPickle.

From Los Angeles Times Dec. 18, 2025

She closed her notebook as Sami ran toward them with a lizard in his mouth.

From "Habibi" by Naomi Shihab Nye

When Chicago-based investment firm Walton Street Capital bought Smith Tower and the Florence Building from the Seattle-based nonprofit organization Samis Foundation in 2006, the company planned to convert a portion of the tower to condos.

From Seattle Times Aug. 8, 2023

“We’re proud of the students for responding to this call for help and we, at Samis, were honored to play a small role in supporting the mission,” says Eli Genuaer, Samis Foundation board chair.

From Seattle Times Aug. 31, 2022

The Samis Foundation was established in 1994 by Samuel Israel z”l and is the largest Jewish philanthropy in Washington State.

From Seattle Times Nov. 15, 2021

Many Samis would be classified as “white” in an American context, while others would be considered “Eurasian.”

From Slate Nov. 21, 2019

I feel it that Skolt Samis are moving forward.

From BBC Oct. 16, 2019

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