a member of a large Muskhogean tribe of North American Indians, formerly living chiefly in southern Mississippi, now in Oklahoma.
the language of the Choctaw, closely related to Chickasaw.
Informal: Offensive. something unintelligible, as speech, illegible handwriting, or an ineffectual explanation; gibberish.
My best efforts at clarity were Choctaw to him.
Figure Skating. choctaw, a type of turn that changes the skater’s orientation in either direction, from skating forward to backward or backward to forward, with a change of foot from right to left or left to right, and a change of edge from outside to inside or inside to outside.
The quickstep compulsory dance requires a choctaw from the forward outside edge of the skating foot to the backward inside edge of the other foot.
a member of a Native American people of Alabama
the language of this people, belonging to the Muskogean family
First recorded in 1720–30; from Choctaw chahta, a self-designation of unknown meaning
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Manning is Nisei and Choctaw and her husband, Antonio, is African American, and she found Altadena to reflect the community she wanted to be a part of.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 26, 2026
“My grandfather was Choctaw and he always taught us to live with nature. If we’d learn to listen and look and feel instead of trying to control, more of our houses would still be here.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 26, 2026
Titled “the space in which to place me,” the show is a mini-survey of the rapturous art of the queer Choctaw and Cherokee artist Jeffrey Gibson.
From New York Times ● Apr. 13, 2024
Margaret McMurtrey, a graduate student at UC Santa Barbara, who is an enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, said she was “disappointed” in Gross’ response.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 3, 2024
In Choctaw lore, for example, the Creator breathed life into not one but many primeval pairs of human beings scattered all over the earth.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Zach Jones had 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Choctaws.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 30, 2021
Stough said the history of the Choctaws in Pearl River County began around the late 1700s or early 1800s.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 12, 2020
In the Southeast, tribes such as the Creeks, Cherokees, Choctaws, and Chickasaws occupied wide territories beyond the limits of white occupation and held the balance of power among the British, French, and Spanish empires.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 18, 2018
Somehow, somewhere in Louisiana, a few Choctaws escaped and traveled south, mingling with white settlers and members of other tribes, mixing their traditions with new practices picked up on the coast.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 11, 2017
Before leaving Vincennes, Tecumseh informed Harrison that he was traveling south to bring the Creeks, Choctaws, and Chickasaws into the alliance.
From "An Indigenous People’s History of the United States" by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
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.
