apache
noun
a Parisian gangster, rowdy, or ruffian.
apache
1 American
[uh-pahsh, uh-pash, a -pash]
/ əˈpɑʃ, əˈpæʃ, aˈpaʃ /
noun
-
apaches
plural
Apache
2
American
[uh-pach-ee]
/ əˈpætʃ i /
noun
-
Apaches,
plural
-
Apache
plural
-
a member of an Athabascan people of the southwestern United States.
-
any of the several Athabascan languages of Arizona and the Rio Grande basin.
-
Military. a two-man U.S. Army helicopter designed to attack enemy armor with rockets or a 30mm gun and equipped for use in bad weather and in darkness.
adjective
Apache
1
British
/ əˈpætʃɪ /
noun
-
a member of a North American Indian people, formerly nomadic and warlike, inhabiting the southwestern US and N Mexico
-
the language of this people, belonging to the Athapascan group of the Na-Dene phylum
apache
2
British
/ əˈpɑːʃ, apaʃ, -ˈpæʃ /
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of apache1
1735–45, < French: Apache
Origin of Apache2
First recorded in 1915–20; from Mexican Spanish, perhaps from Zuni ʔa·paču “Navajos,” presumably applied formerly to the Apacheans (Navajos and Apaches) generally
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:
He’s Dad the destroyer, who mapped out the steps for the apache dance that defines his children’s lives.
From New York Times ● Jul. 28, 2014
But the broken, jagged heart of this production belongs to Ms. Rodriguez and Mr. Cannavale, who turn their characters’ relationship into a bruising, tragicomic apache dance of love, betrayal and indecision.
From New York Times ● Apr. 12, 2011
The result is a bravura hodgepodge of Spanish and gypsy dances, pas de deux, a smattering of light-footed cupids and dryads and, for some obscure reason, a jig resembling a French apache dance.
From Time Magazine Archive
A new generation of readers welcomes the lyrical effusions of the cowboy, the lumberman, the tramp, and even the apache.
From Aspects and Impressions by Edmund Gosse
"Quick now, and make your get-away, O Julot the apache!"
From Ballads of a Bohemian by Robert W. (Robert William) Service
Boeing makes the Apache attack helicopter for militaries around the world.
From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026
Also this week, the army landed an Apache attack helicopter at coast guard headquarters, illustrating increased integration.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
On June 9, the president posted at 12:38 p.m. that Iran had shot down an Apache helicopter that was patrolling the Strait of Hormuz, adding, “The United States must, of necessity, respond to this attack.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
The court heard he told Helen he had served in the Army air corps for 27 years, and was an Apache helicopter pilot until 2018.
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026
As we drove to the trailer, the sun dipping in the sky, its last rays reaching across the highway, I thought about the Apache women.
From "Educated" by Tara Westover
Apaches have been flying low over the strait for maritime patrols and precision strikes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 9, 2026
The Army said the AH-64 Apaches were conducting a training route past the Nashville area, where the country rock artist's hilltop estate is located.
From BBC ● Mar. 30, 2026
Charles Bendire was leading a patrol against Apaches near what is now Tucson, Ariz., when he saw the nest of a zone-tailed hawk.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 23, 2026
“Faced with the government’s plan to destroy an ancient site of tribal worship, we owe the Apaches no less,” Gorsuch wrote.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 27, 2025
According to Grandma, a hundred years ago a tribe of Apaches had fought the U.S.
From "Educated" by Tara Westover
Cowboys, apaches, and residents of Newport have probably far more grievous protests.
From Time Magazine Archive
From this radical start, she went on to order the fashionable women of three continents into the turtleneck sweaters of the apaches, to expose their knees and suppress their curves.
From Time Magazine Archive
But remember the crooks in Turn to the Right and the apaches in Seoenfh Heaven.
From Time Magazine Archive
How will they regard these exploits which even we who perform them don't know whether one should compare them with those of Plutarch's and Corneille's heroes or with those of hooligans and apaches?
From Under Fire: the story of a squad by Fitzwater Wray
At the word apaches the girl turned on him with teeth bared as though in a snarl.
From The Second Class Passenger Fifteen Stories by Perceval Gibbon
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.
