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Kongo

American  
[kong-goh] / ˈkɒŋ goʊ /

noun

  • Kongos,
    plural
  • Kongo
    plural
  1. a member of an Indigenous people living in west-central Africa along the lower course of the Congo River.

  2. Also called Kikongo.  the Bantu language of the Kongo people, used as a lingua franca in the lower Congo River basin.


Kongo British  
/ ˈkɒŋɡəʊ /

noun

  1. a member of a Negroid people of Africa living in the tropical forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaïre), Congo Brazzaville, and Angola

  2. the language of this people, belonging to the Bantu group of the Niger-Congo family

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

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:

Last Fourth of July, the company’s system deterred more than 20,000 people in the U.S. from booking an entire home listing on Airbnb, according to company spokesperson Ruthie Kongo.

From Los Angeles Times Jul. 1, 2026

"Plastic pollution has reached alarming levels," said Vincent Kunda, head of Kongo River, an NGO which raises awareness of the scourge.

From Barron's May 20, 2026

Among the faithful was Clément L’onde, who travelled from Kisantu, a town in the province of Central Kongo, more than 150 kilometers from Kinshasa.

From Seattle Times Feb. 1, 2023

He did not denounce the slave trade but asked only that the Portuguese bring their captives to officials of Kongo to be sure they were not free Kongolese wrongfully seized.

From Textbooks Dec. 14, 2022

The Portuguese marveled at how efficiently the Kingdom of Kongo collected taxes and assembled its court and ministries.

From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver

Yet as much as the Kongos value tradition, their firm has survived by being flexible.

From Time Magazine Archive

The men said they must consider the matter, and went away to drink water, as the Kongos say.

From An African Adventure by Isaac Frederick Marcosson

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