Indian
Americannoun
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Also called American Indian, Amerind, Amerindian, Native American. a member of any of the aboriginal peoples of the Americas, especially of subarctic North America, excluding the Inuit, Yupik, and Aleut.
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any of the Indigenous languages of the American Indians. Ind
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a member of any of the peoples native to or inhabiting India or the East Indies.
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a citizen of the Republic of India.
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Slang. a person who performs a required task or carries out the instructions of superiors.
We have too many chiefs and not enough Indians.
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Astronomy. the constellation Indus.
adjective
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of, relating to, or characteristic of the American Indians or their languages.
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of, relating to, or characteristic of India or the East Indies.
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made of Indian corn.
Indian meal.
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Zoogeography. oriental.
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Phytogeography. belonging or pertaining to a geographical division comprising India south of the Himalayas, and Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
noun
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a native, citizen, or inhabitant of the Republic of India
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old-fashioned a Native American
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(not in scholarly usage) any of the languages of Native Americans
adjective
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of, relating to, or characteristic of India, its inhabitants, or any of their languages
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(Not in scholarly usage) of, relating to, or characteristic of Native Americans or any of their languages
Sensitive Note
Because Christopher Columbus mistakenly believed that the Caribbean island on which he had landed was the subcontinent of India, he called the inhabitants Indians. Eventually, that name was applied to almost all the Indigenous, non-European inhabitants of North and South America. In modern times Indian may refer to an inhabitant of the subcontinent of India or of the East Indies, to a citizen of the Republic of India, or to a member of an aboriginal American people. However, the term Indian is not applied to the Inuit, Yupik, and Aleut of Arctic North America. In the 18th century the term American Indian came to be used for the aboriginal inhabitants of the United States and Canada; it now includes the aboriginal peoples of South America as well. (When necessary, further distinctions are made with such terms as North American Indian and South American Indian. ) The terms Amerindian and Amerind subsequently developed in the attempt to reduce ambiguity. The most recent designation, especially in North America, is Native American. American Indians themselves tend to favor the terms Indian, American Indian, or a specific tribal name. They sometimes refer to themselves collectively as Indian peoples. All these terms appear in edited writing. Whether one or several will gain ascendancy over the others remains to be seen. See Eskimo. See also honest Injun, Indian giver.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of Indian
First recorded in 1350–1400; from Medieval Latin Indiānus; replacing Middle English Indien, from Old French, from Medieval Latin as above; see India, -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.
Earlier Saturday, Modi also addressed a large crowd of Indian ex-pats and visited Dutch King Willem Alexander.
From Barron's • May 16, 2026
Adani, a close ally of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was born in Ahmedabad in Gujarat state to a middle-class family but dropped out of school at 16.
From Barron's • May 15, 2026
Indian pop culture is increasingly becoming decentralised, with some of its most interesting energies now emerging from places once treated as fringe.
From BBC • May 15, 2026
Mr. Kshatriya is the American-born son of Indian immigrant scientists, and he has fully absorbed the patriotic values that drove the original space race against the Soviet Union.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 15, 2026
The last stop on our tour was Dari’s room, where Indian mixed with American, Bollywood posters bordered baseball posters.
From "The Science of Breakable Things" by Tae Keller
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.
