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pueblo
pueblonouna communal structure for multiple dwelling and defensive purposes of certain agricultural Indians of the southwestern United States: built of adobe or stone, typically many-storied and terraced, the structures were often placed against cliff walls, with entry through the roof by ladder.
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Pueblo
Pueblonouna city in central Colorado.
pueblo
1 Americannoun
plural
pueblos-
a communal structure for multiple dwelling and defensive purposes of certain agricultural Indians of the southwestern United States: built of adobe or stone, typically many-storied and terraced, the structures were often placed against cliff walls, with entry through the roof by ladder.
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(initial capital letter) a member of a group of Indian peoples living in pueblo villages in New Mexico and Arizona since prehistoric times.
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an Indian village.
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(in Spanish America) a town or village.
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(in the Philippines) a town or a township.
noun
noun
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a communal village, built by certain Indians of the southwestern US and parts of Latin America, consisting of one or more flat-roofed stone or adobe houses
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(in Spanish America) a village or town
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(in the Philippines) a town or township
noun
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of pueblo
An Americanism dating back to 1800–10; from Colonial Spanish; Spanish: “town,” from Latin populus “community, people, nation”; cf. people ( def. )
Explanation
If your home is in a pueblo, you probably live in the southwestern part of the United States, in a community of adobe houses. This noun of Spanish origin refers to a structure and institution of Native American origin: a communal village consisting of contiguous, multistory flat-roofed houses. Spanish explorers of the American Southwest were the first to use the word pueblo. The ultimate root, populus, is Latin and is related to population and people. Today, the state of New Mexico is home to the greatest number of pueblos still in use.
Vocabulary lists containing pueblo
Native American History - Introductory
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Native American History - Middle School and High School
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Chapter 1: The First Americans
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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.
It has been since the city was founded as El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río de Porciúncula.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 28, 2026
The new business would be anchored by the majority-owned Nevada Gold Mines and the Pueblo Viejo mine in the Dominican Republic, as well as its wholly-owned Fourmile discovery in Nevada.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 19, 2026
But the order requires only that special regard be given to classical and traditional styles for federal buildings, defined broadly to include everything from Gothic to Pueblo Revival, and Spanish Colonial to Art Deco.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 26, 2025
It was an awe-inspiring sight for the pobladores who came from Mexico in 1789 and set up El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles in the name of the Spanish crown.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 10, 2025
It was all about President Johnson trying to get a bill passed to help the urban poor, and then something about the Pueblo, which had been taken over by the North Koreans.
From "Fallen Angels" by Walter Dean Myers
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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.