Oneida
Americannoun
-
Oneidas,
plural
-
Oneida
plural
-
a member of an Iroquois people formerly inhabiting the region east of Oneida Lake.
-
the Iroquoian language spoken by the Oneida Indians.
-
a city in central New York.
noun
-
a lake in central New York State: part of the New York State Barge Canal system. Length: about 35 km (22 miles). Greatest width: 9 km (6 miles)
-
(functioning as plural) a North American Indian people formerly living east of Lake Ontario; one of the Iroquois peoples
-
a member of this people
-
the language of this people, belonging to the Iroquoian family
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of Oneida
From the Oneida word onę·yóteʔ erected stone, the name of the main Oneida settlement, at successive locations, near which, traditionally, a large syenite boulder always appeared
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:
Ernie Stevens Sr. was also revered in Indian country, with leadership roles in places like Oneida, Navajo Nation and the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 7, 2025
He was a member of the Oneida Nation, part of the Six Nations Reserve in southern Ontario.
From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2025
You begin with John Humphrey Noyes, founder of the Oneida Community, a utopian religious group in the mid-19th century.
From Salon ● May 26, 2025
“He told me how they had been living. I said, ‘You go back to school and tell them what happened,’” said Oneida Williams, 85.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 2, 2024
In 1860, when he was not yet nineteen, his devout father urged him to join a religious commune in Oneida, New York, run by a man his father admired.
From "Ambushed!" by Gail Jarrow
Ranged across what is now upstate New York, the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas and Senecas had recently forged a “covenant chain” of alliance with several English colonies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
Colgate University in November returned more than 1,500 items that the Oneidas had buried with their dead as far back as 400 years ago.
From Washington Times ● May 15, 2023
The dig site in Windsor, New York. was once a large settlement located on the banks of the Susquehanna River, in the traditional territory of the Oneidas.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 22, 2023
The Oneidas once held six million acres in New York, but agreed to a treaty ceding nearly all their land to the state.
From Salon ● Oct. 10, 2022
But while they were successful with a large portion of the Iroquois, they signally failed in all their attempts to abate the fidelity of the Oneidas and Tuscaroras.
From The Frontiersmen by Gustave Aimard
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.
