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adelantado

American  
[ad-l-ahn-tah-doh, ah-the-lahn-tah-thaw] / ˌæd l ɑnˈtɑ doʊ, ˌɑ ðɛ lɑnˈtɑ ðɔ /

noun

History/Historical.
  • adelantados
    plural
  1. a governor of a province in Spain or of a Spanish colonial province.

  2. any of the early explorers, conquerors, or colonizers in Spanish America.


Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

Etymology

Origin of adelantado

1835–45, < Spanish, noun use of past participle of adelantar to go forward, derivative of adelante in front ( a- (< Latin ad- ad- ) + delante before, for denante < Late Latin dē in ante )

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:

All the expedition which the son of the adelantado could make was not sufficient for those who remained in Champoton.

From Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, Vol. I. by John L. Stephens

Juan de Contreras was sent with the despatches, who gave the adelantado, besides, a full account of the desperate condition in which they remained at Champoton.

From Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, Vol. I. by John L. Stephens

To follow up the conquest of Yucatan, it was indispensable to recruit his forces, and for this purpose the adelantado determined on going to New Spain.

From Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, Vol. I. by John L. Stephens

Ruy Lopez de Villalobos sighted the islands again after him in the year 1539.2 Finally they were pacified in the year 1571 by the adelantado Miguel Lopez de Legaspi.

From The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume 29 of 55 Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of the Catholic Missions, as Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Close of the Nineteenth Century by Various

Here the adelantado made one unfortunate and fatal movement.

From Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, Vol. I. by John L. Stephens

They paid scant respect to the adelantados, whom the Castilian king sent out one after another as feudal proprietors.

From The South American Republics Part I of II by Thomas C. Dawson

The horses brought over by the adelantados had multiplied amazingly, and were spreading wild over the pampa to the south.

From The South American Republics Part I of II by Thomas C. Dawson

The governors.—The old days of the adelantados, with unlimited powers, had passed, and the royal arm now reached the farthest outposts.

From The Colonization of North America 1492-1783 by Herbert Eugene Bolton

These "adelantados" contracted to conquer, at their own charges, the particular districts granted them, certain profits being reserved to the crown, and Charles V. freely granted such patents.

From The South American Republics Part I of II by Thomas C. Dawson

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