a member of a Negroid people of S central Africa, living chiefly in Zambia and Zimbabwe
the language of this people, belonging to the Bantu group of the Niger-Congo family
First recorded in 1870–75, tonga is from the Hindi word tāṅgā
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
I suppose their might be a risk of some of the potential GB players competing for their home countries - tonga, samoa, south africa, new zealand, holland etc. but i'm sure it'll be good.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 7, 2012
"Na, na, damchee, na, na, damchee! " wailed the tongawalla to a British officer, who was trying to rent his two-wheeled tonga at an air base in India.
From Time Magazine Archive
At this time of the year and having regard to the heat of the sun who wants a top to a tonga?
From From Sea to Sea Letters of Travel by Kipling, Rudyard
And behold Sahib, Padre Martum Sahib went in this tonga to Deoli.
From From Sea to Sea Letters of Travel by Kipling, Rudyard
Once the tonga strayed into a company of date trees that fringed the path, and once rattled through a little town, and once the ponies shied at what the driver said was a rock.
From From Sea to Sea Letters of Travel by Kipling, Rudyard
The second encounter occurred during a 2024 expedition to the Tonga Trench aboard the R/V Dagon as part of the Inkfish Open Ocean Expedition, led by scientists from the Minderoo-UWA Deep-Sea Research Center.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 8, 2026
Tonga Nolan grew up in a predominantly Black neighborhood on the north side of Baton Rouge and remembers it fondly as a tight-knit community.
From Salon ● May 10, 2026
We spent years leaving medical records scattered from Tonga to Iceland; it’s time for a bit more continuity of care.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 22, 2026
Loughborough Lightning number eight Haineala Lutui, daughter of former Tonga, Worcester and Gloucester hooker Aleki, is rewarded for her fine form.
From BBC ● Mar. 20, 2026
Similar epidemics marked the histories of Tonga, Hawaii, and other Pacific islands.
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.
