Machu Picchu

American

[mah-choo peek-choo, pee-choo] / ˈmɑ tʃu ˈpik tʃu, ˈpi tʃu /

noun

the site of an ancient Incan and pre-Incan city, about 7,000 feet (2,130 meters) above sea level in the Andes, in S central Peru.

Machu Picchu British

/ ˈmɑːtʃuː ˈpiːktʃuː /

noun

a ruined Incan city in S Peru

"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

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.

In college he spent summers hitchhiking around South America, hiking to Machu Picchu and mostly ignoring warnings of guerrilla activity.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 23, 2026

Fifteen people were injured when two trains crashed head-on Tuesday near the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu, Peru's top tourist attraction, police and train operators said.

From Barron's • Dec. 30, 2025

The razor-sharp mountains on the horizon don’t inspire your imagination — they make you think of Machu Picchu.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 3, 2025

The only concerns towering over her trip were cloud-ringed mountains and the glory of Machu Picchu, which is visited by around 1.5 million people each year.

From Salon • Aug. 3, 2025

The journey to Machu Picchu lasted several days.

From "The Ugly One" by Leanne Statland Ellis

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023