machete

American  

[muh-shet-ee, -chet-ee] / məˈʃɛt i, -ˈtʃɛt i /

noun

1. a large heavy knife used especially in Latin American countries in cutting sugarcane and clearing underbrush and as a weapon.

2. a tarpon, Elops affinis, of the eastern Pacific Ocean, having an elongated, compressed body.

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machete British  

/ -ˈtʃeɪ-, məˈʃɛtɪ /

noun

1. a broad heavy knife used for cutting or as a weapon, esp in parts of Central and South America

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Etymology

Origin of machete

First recorded in 1575–1600; < Spanish, equivalent to mach(o) “mallet” ( mace ¹ ) + -ete noun suffix ( -et ( def. ) )

Compare meaning

How does machete compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• kukri vs. machete

Example Sentences

In his field, just a stone's throw from his house, Kone still works only with a machete and wears open-toed shoes.

From Barron's

"It was more like Lord of the Flies or Borstal," she said, adding that every girl there had a machete, in order to cut the grass.

From BBC

On Saturday morning, men with machetes hacked through branches as thick as their arms, clearing patches of the road where traffic jams were at a standstill.

From BBC

In Cuba, residents of the country's second-largest city Santiago de Cuba worked with machetes to clear streets buried in debris.

From BBC

He asked: "Did AR have any remote reason - as far as you can really tell - or his family to be ordering machetes?"

From BBC

Related Words

• blade
• knife
• sickle