pampas
Americanplural noun
singular
pampanoun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of pampas
First recorded in 1695–1705; from Latin American Spanish, plural of pampa, from Quechua: “flat, unbounded plain”
Explanation
If you travel to Argentina, you may have a chance to visit the pampas, the fertile lowlands that cover part of South America. This noun is of American Spanish origin and ultimately from Quechua in the central Andes mountains in South America. Argentina is the country that is home to more pampas (treeless, grassy plains) than any other. The pampas may seem rather empty without the occasional gaucho, a cowboy of the pampas, and yet another word of South American Spanish origin.
Vocabulary lists containing pampas
South America - Middle School
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South America - High School
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2015 Spelling Bee - Words from Round 2
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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.
On the pampas they may have been equally valued for their relatively fatty meat.
From Science Magazine • Dec. 7, 2023
“Fall is the perfect time to scavenge for materials to use in your décor — pampas grass, pine cones, acorns, bittersweet, pussy willows, branches of leaves, dried hydrangeas, and whatever else you can find.”
From Seattle Times • Nov. 15, 2023
He pointed to a cavernous undercut that likely destabilized the bluff and noted the clusters of pampas grass, a fluffy, straw-colored weed that wedges its roots into the rocky cracks and joints.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 22, 2023
We stood in the shade on a ranch called Los Ombúes, for the wide canopied trees common to the pampas, and watched three gauchos separate cattle, marking those for slaughter with red paint.
From New York Times • Oct. 5, 2022
In the pampas of Argentina and Uruguay, the voyaging Charles Darwin discovered hundreds of square miles strangled by feral artichoke.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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.
