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• apache
  apache

  noun

  a Parisian gangster, rowdy, or ruffian.
• Apache
  Apache

  noun

  a member of an Athabascan people of the southwestern United States.

apache

¹ American  

[uh-pahsh, uh-pash, a-pash] / əˈpɑʃ, əˈpæʃ, aˈpaʃ /

noun

plural

apaches

1. a Parisian gangster, rowdy, or ruffian.

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Apache ² American  

[uh-pach-ee] / əˈpætʃ i /

noun

plural

Apaches,

plural

Apache

1. a member of an Athabascan people of the southwestern United States.

2. any of the several Athabascan languages of Arizona and the Rio Grande basin.

3. Military. a two-man U.S. Army helicopter designed to attack enemy armor with rockets or a 30mm gun and equipped for use in bad weather and in darkness.

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adjective

1. of or relating to an Athabascan people of the southwestern United States or their language.

Apache ¹ British  

/ əˈpætʃɪ /

noun

1. a member of a North American Indian people, formerly nomadic and warlike, inhabiting the southwestern US and N Mexico

2. the language of this people, belonging to the Athapascan group of the Na-Dene phylum

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apache ² British  

/ əˈpɑːʃ, apaʃ, -ˈpæʃ /

noun

1. a Parisian gangster or ruffian

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Etymology

Origin of apache¹

1735–45, < French: Apache

Origin of Apache²

First recorded in 1915–20; from Mexican Spanish, perhaps from Zuni ʔa·paču “Navajos,” presumably applied formerly to the Apacheans (Navajos and Apaches) generally

Example Sentences

The pilots of an Apache attack helicopter were suspended this week after doing a flyby of Kid Rock’s home in Tennessee.

From Salon • Apr. 3, 2026

He cited Texas-based petroleum companies Murphy Oil and Apache Oil, a subsidiary of APA, as firms that have already established international footholds.

From Barron's • Mar. 26, 2026

The most straightforward, and successful, parts recount the 1836 abduction of a Mexican rancher’s wife named Camila by an Apache band led by the larger-than-life chieftain Mangas Coloradas.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 5, 2026

In the 1950s it produced Merlin and Apache helicipters.

From BBC • Feb. 27, 2026

As we drove to the trailer, the sun dipping in the sky, its last rays reaching across the highway, I thought about the Apache women.

From "Educated" by Tara Westover