Ethiopian
Americanadjective
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of or relating to Ethiopia or to its inhabitants.
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belonging to the part of Africa south of the equator.
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Zoogeography. belonging to a geographical division comprising Africa south of the tropic of Cancer, the southern part of Arabia, and Madagascar.
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Archaic. Black African.
noun
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Ethiopians
plural
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a native of Ethiopia.
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a member of any of various supposedly dark-skinned peoples regarded by the ancients as coming from a country lying south of Egypt.
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Archaic. a Black African.
adjective
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of, relating to, or characteristic of Ethiopia, its people, or any of their languages
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of or denoting a zoogeographical region consisting of Africa south of the Sahara
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obsolete anthropol of or belonging to a postulated racial group characterized by dark skin, an oval elongated face, and thin lips, living chiefly in Africa south of the Sahara
noun
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a native or inhabitant of Ethiopia
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any of the languages of Ethiopia, esp Amharic
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of Ethiopian
First recorded in 1545–55; Ethiopi(a) + -an
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:
Hundreds of Ethiopians from the Tigray region have crossed into neighbouring Sudan following fighting between regional forces and the Ethiopian army over the weekend.
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026
There was desperation in the voice of the young Ethiopian man when he managed to get through to the BBC from a phone in his prison cell on death row in Saudi Arabia.
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026
An unnamed Ethiopian assistant professor was selected by ICM for its Midwife Leaders Executive Sponsorship Programme, but was rejected for having an "inadequate financial bank statement and an unreliable purpose of travel", the organisers said.
From Barron's ● Jun. 12, 2026
The menu is extensive, including far more than what you’d typically find in Ethiopian restaurants stateside.
From Salon ● Jun. 11, 2026
He read from his Bible and the Ethiopian one as well.
From "Where Things Come Back" by John Corey Whaley
The African Union's human rights commission has also urged Ethiopia to safeguard the lives of Ethiopians facing execution in Saudi Arabia.
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026
Ahmed, though, is facing growing domestic pressure to reduce the steep prices Ethiopians pay for imports, from food to fuel, which principally come via ports in Djibouti, Somalia, and Kenya.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 7, 2026
The GERD, whose construction began in 2011, was financed through taxes and loans from Ethiopians.
From Barron's ● Feb. 3, 2026
Tens of thousands of vibrantly dressed Ethiopians descended on downtown Addis Ababa for an annual thanksgiving festival this weekend.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2025
However, it is not yet known whether Ethiopians were cultivating these local plants before or only after the arrival of the Southwest Asian package.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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.
