First recorded in 1990–95; from Mexican Spanish: literally, band 1 (in the sense of “group of musicians”)
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Música mexicana’s boom has reimagined sounds passed down through generations with corridos, rancheras, norteño, banda and sierreño for the streaming era.
From Los Angeles Times • May 22, 2026
Chuy Lizarraga and José Angel Ledezma Quintero—popularly known as El Coyote—boast a combined 10 million monthly listeners on Spotify, but their latest venture isn’t named after a heartbreak ballad or a rural banda anthem.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 16, 2026
“This is very Pancho Barraza-style, especially with the venado shirt. I looked up old videos of him performing on YouTube. I do that a lot with these older banda looks,” Vallejo says.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 15, 2025
“This is something that is new because there is an income. Vaquero culture, banda culture is expensive, and people don’t give that credit.”
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 8, 2025
Splashing across to the Mess banda, he discovered a battered metal teapot, an enamelled tumbler, an almost empty tin of condensed milk, and a tin plate of very sad-looking porridge.
From Cupid in Africa by Wren, P. C.
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.
