conquistador

American  

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

noun

plural

conquistadors,

plural

conquistadores

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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Etymology

Origin of conquistador

1540–50; < Spanish equivalent to conquist ( ar ) to conquer ( 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

Landing in Peru in 1531, during the Inca Civil War, the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro found the Inca Road an ideal conduit for seizing the empire and draining it of its treasure.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 10, 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

A statue of the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro has been reinstalled in the centre of Peru's capital Lima, more than 20 years after it was removed.

From BBC • Jan. 18, 2025

To do so, he elicits help from fellow students, but their presentation is derailed by unlikely apparitions: a conquistador, a small child, Laura Linney.

From New York Times • Mar. 29, 2024

The spoils of a conquest that the country had long ago forgotten, and that some conquistador had failed to tell his children about.

From "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho