conquistador

American  

[kon-kwis-tuh-dawr, kong-, kawng-kees-tah-thawr] / kɒnˈkwɪs təˌdɔr, kɒŋ-, kɔŋˌkis tɑˈðɔr /

noun

• conquistadors,
  plural
• conquistadores
  plural

1. one of the Spanish conquerors of Mexico and Peru in the 16th century.

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conquistador British  

/ kɒnˈkwɪstəˌdɔː, konkistaˈðor /

noun

1. an adventurer or conqueror, esp one of the Spanish conquerors of the New World in the 16th century

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• conquistadores
  plural
• conquistadors
  plural

Etymology

Origin of conquistador

1540–50; < Spanish equivalent to conquist ( ar ) to conquer ( see conquest) + -ador -ator

Explanation

A conquistador is a person who is out to conquer new territory. A conquistador was the name given to the Fifteenth-to-Seventeenth century Spanish and Portugese soldiers who conquered much of the world, most famously the Central and Southern Americas. Not nice guys, but effective, and the term is still used today to describe certain people — ruthless business types, etc — who are brutally efficient at what they do. The most famous conquistador was the Spanish adventurer, Hernando Cortes, who subdued the mighty Aztec Empire of Mexico. The word comes, not surprisingly, from the Spanish verb conquistar, "to conquer."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

conquistador conquistadores conquistadors

Gen. George Patton and Hernán Cortés, the Spanish conquistador who famously destroyed his own ships so his soldiers couldn’t retreat.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 28, 2026

Sporting a conquistador moustache and thighs as thick as a gaucho's steak, the culture shock was severe when the Argentina wing arrived at Harlequins.

From BBC ● Nov. 21, 2025

Hernán Cortés, the Spanish conquistador who blasted his way through Aztec Mexico, complained about them in a 1525 letter to his master, the Holy Roman Emperor.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 20, 2025

Others credit Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes, who got a taste of chocolate after being served Xocolatl by Montezuma himself.

From Salon ● Feb. 17, 2025

Las Casas, a conquistador who repented of his actions and became a priest, spent the second half of his long fife opposing European cruelty in the Americas.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

But the preoccupations among the conquistadores are plunder, religious conversions or, in Magellan’s case, an impulse to bring the world to his feet by making it navigable.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 23, 2026

Peru's largest archaeological sites are located outside Lima in places such as Cusco, which was the capital of the Inca Empire and fell to Spanish conquistadores in the 16th century.

From Reuters ● Nov. 22, 2023

To quote Daniela: “Our people survived slave ships. We survived Taíno genocide. We survived conquistadores and dictators. You’re telling me we can’t survive the D train to the Grand Concourse?”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 11, 2021

Wikipedia, in reference to this sixteenth-century bloom of conquistadores, says of Extremadura that its “difficult conditions pushed many of its ambitious young men to seek their fortunes overseas.”

From The New Yorker ● Jan. 6, 2020

American civilizations resting on animal power might have been sending their own conquistadores to ravage Europe.

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

A centuries-old document telling the story of the Aztec civilisation and its fall after the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in pictograms is going on display in Mexico for the first time in 186 years.

From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026

Last month, King Felipe, while visiting a museum exhibition showcasing Mexican Indigenous women, conceded that the actions of Spanish conquistadors had featured “much abuse” and raised “ethical controversies.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 18, 2026

Characterized as “myths,” for example, were the age-old beliefs that Native Americans mistook the conquistadors for gods, and that a mere handful of Spaniards toppled great empires with ease.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 2, 2026

Somewhat later, Spanish conquistadors followed Columbus across the Atlantic to conquer the Aztec and Incan empires, occupying significant parts of the Americas.

From Salon ● Sep. 20, 2024

Unable to step outside, the conquistadors cowered in shelters beneath a relentless, weeks-long barrage of flaming stone.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann