American

American  

[uh-mer-i-kuhn] / əˈmɛr ɪ kən /

adjective

1. of or relating to the United States of America or its inhabitants.

   an American citizen.

2. of or relating to North or South America; of the Western Hemisphere.

   the American continents.

3. of or relating to the Indigenous peoples of North and South America.

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noun

1. a citizen of the United States of America.

2. a native or inhabitant of North or South America.

3. an Indigenous person of North or South America.

4. American English.

5. a steam locomotive having a four-wheeled front truck, four driving wheels, and no rear truck.

American British  

/ əˈmɛrɪkən /

adjective

1. of or relating to the United States of America, its inhabitants, or their form of English

2. of or relating to the American continent

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noun

1. a native or citizen of the US

2. a native or inhabitant of any country of North, Central, or South America

3. the English language as spoken or written in the United States

Other Word Forms

• Americanly adverb
• Americanness noun

Etymology

Origin of American

First recorded in 1570–80; Americ(a) + -an

Example Sentences

American consumers and small businesses alike are spitting fire these days about the cost of credit cards, while the companies profiting from them are making money hand over fist.

From Los Angeles Times

The costs of that outcome, historian Robert Kagan warned recently, would be borne by Americans as well as Europeans.

From Los Angeles Times

Manning is Nisei and Choctaw and her husband, Antonio, is African American, and she found Altadena to reflect the community she wanted to be a part of.

From Los Angeles Times

The new novel from the author of ‘My Absolute Darling,’ is a riveting read featuring two desert rat teens climbing to escape the precarity of the American Dream.

From Los Angeles Times

I do believe that a majority of Americans, if they understood exactly what was happening, would be opposed to it.

From Salon