Pilgrims

Cultural  

1. A group of English Puritans, persecuted in their own country, who emigrated to America. The first group arrived on the Mayflower in 1620. They landed at Plymouth Rock, in what is now Massachusetts, and established the Plymouth Colony, with the Mayflower Compact as their constitution. William Bradford and Miles Standish were noted leaders of the colony.

---

Example Sentences

Students may learn that the Pilgrims arrived on the Mayflower, that the First Amendment protects religious liberty, and that church and state are constitutionally distinct.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 9, 2026

Pilgrims come from across Mexico, arriving on foot, motorcycle, bicycle, bus and even wheelchair.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 12, 2025

Thanksgiving is thought to be modeled on a 1621 harvest meal between the Wampanoag people and English colonists known as Pilgrims.

From Barron's • Nov. 27, 2025

What led you to see the Pilgrims as America's foundational cult?

From Salon • May 26, 2025

For more than 450 years La Trinité, filled not only with immense treasure but also artifacts of a New World settlement fifty-five years before the Pilgrims, was the continual object of intense search.

From "Shipwrecked!" by Martin W. Sandler