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• Aborigines
  Aborigines

  plural noun

  the plural form of Aborigine.
• aborigines
  aborigines

  The earliest known inhabitants of a region. The term is most often associated with the native hunting and gathering population of Australia, who preceded the arrival of white settlers. (See hunting and gathering societies.)

Aborigines

American  

[ab-uh-rij-uh-neez] / ˌæb əˈrɪdʒ ə niz /

plural noun

1. the plural form of Aborigine.

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aborigines Cultural  

1. The earliest known inhabitants of a region. The term is most often associated with the native hunting and gathering population of Australia, who preceded the arrival of white settlers. (See hunting and gathering societies.)

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Etymology

Origin of Aborigines

First recorded in 1540–50; Aborigine ( def. ) + -s ³ ( def. ); Aborigine ( def. )

Example Sentences

Wartilykirri is a hooked boomerang shaped like the number seven, used by Aborigines in southeastern Australia.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 24, 2024

When the Australian Aborigines arrived on the continent of Australia, they started changing the ecosystem in very dramatic ways, and a lot of species went extinct.

From Salon • Aug. 5, 2023

For days, he’d hitchhiked across the country in 100-degree heat, bound for Uluru/Ayers Rock, a red sandstone mountain sacred to Australia’s Aborigines.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 10, 2021

On May 27, 1967, 91 percent of Australian voters agreed by referendum to delete two discriminatory references to Aborigines in Australia’s Constitution.

From New York Times • Nov. 15, 2017

Three successive times, they encountered and were rescued by well-fed Aborigines whose home was that desert, and who plied the explorers with fish, fern cakes, and roasted fat rats.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond