Choctaw
noun
a member of a large Muskhogean tribe of North American Indians, formerly living chiefly in southern Mississippi, now in Oklahoma.
Choctaw
American
[chok-taw]
/ ˈtʃɒk tɔ /
noun
-
Choctaws,
plural
-
Choctaw
plural
-
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.
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Informal: Offensive. something unintelligible, as speech, illegible handwriting, or an ineffectual explanation; gibberish.
My best efforts at clarity were Choctaw to him.
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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.
adjective
Choctaw
1
British
/ ˈtʃɒktɔː /
noun
-
a member of a Native American people of Alabama
-
the language of this people, belonging to the Muskogean family
choctaw
2
British
/ ˈtʃɒktɔː /
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of Choctaw
First recorded in 1720–30; from Choctaw chahta, a self-designation of unknown meaning
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:
“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
In Oklahoma, the Choctaw Nation had seen a 200 percent increase as of mid-March in reservations at its resorts and casinos.
From New York Times ● Apr. 8, 2024
The Benedict family, who have roots in the Choctaw Nation, welcomed discussions and questions of gender and identity, the Independent reported.
From Salon ● Feb. 22, 2024
In Marvel’s latest live-action series, “Echo,” she plays Bonnie, the cousin of its title character, who is an antihero from the Choctaw tribe played by Menominee actor Alaqua Cox.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 12, 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
“The Choctaws were the heirs of the mound-building Mississippian cultures of the Southeast,” Jean Stockstill Hartfield wrote in an article published in The Historical Reporter, a publication of the Pearl River County Historical Society.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 12, 2020
The new policy applied to all the eastern tribes but especially affected the “Five Civilized Tribes” of the Southeast: the Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Seminoles.
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.
