Kiowa
Americannoun
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a member of an Indigenous Great Plains tribe, now living primarily in Oklahoma.
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the language of the Kiowa, closely related to Tanoan.
adjective
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of Kiowa
First recorded in 1800–10; from Kiowa kɔjgwu “principal people”
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:
The tree sat on the Kiowa Ranch, a property that noted arts patron Mabel Dodge Luhan had given to Frieda Lawrence, wife of the British writer D.H.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026
M. Scott Momaday, in his essay “The Way to Rainy Mountain,” describes his Kiowa grandmother, who “bore an image of deicide.”
From Salon ● Sep. 1, 2024
“His Kiowa heritage was deeply meaningful to him and he devoted much of his life to celebrating and preserving Native American culture, especially the oral tradition.”
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 29, 2024
Hokeah’s characters exist at the intersection of Kiowa, Cherokee and Mexican identity, which provides a vital exploration of indigeneity in contemporary American letters.
From New York Times ● Aug. 16, 2022
Kiowa, a devout Baptist, carried an illustrated New Testament that had been presented to him by his father, who taught Sunday school in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
From "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien
"Nope. I showed up a bit late, but neither Scan Eagle nor the Kiowas could actually see the enemy."
From Salon ● May 25, 2020
Smaller groups in the Indian Territory took similar steps, as did several bands of Comanches and Kiowas farther west.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 18, 2018
Johanna, who was captured by the Kiowas as a very young girl, has been living with them for so long she can remember only fragments of her former life.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 29, 2016
The loser is exiled, precipitating a short war between the Kiowas and Comanches before the requisite happy ending.
From New York Times ● Jul. 15, 2016
They wondered if the Kiowas intended to ignore them.
From Three Sioux Scouts by Gregor, Elmer Russell
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.
