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Pawnee

American  
[paw-nee] / pɔˈni /

noun

Pawnees, plural Pawnee plural
  1. a member of a confederacy of North American Plains Indians of Caddoan stock formerly located along the Platte River valley, Nebraska, and now living in northern Oklahoma.

  2. the Caddoan language of the Pawnee Indians.


Pawnee British  
/ pɔːˈniː /

noun

  1. a member of a confederacy of related North American Indian peoples, formerly living in Nebraska and Kansas, now chiefly in Oklahoma

  2. the language of these peoples, belonging to the Caddoan 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

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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.

Chief Hotate often met Leslie Knope, deputy director of the Parks and Recreation department for the fictional city of Pawnee, to discuss use of the land.

From BBC • Jun. 3, 2025

In one of my all-time favorite Parks and Recreation episodes, Leslie Knope excitedly tells the camera that the city of Pawnee will finally get fluoride in their water thanks to a merger with neighboring Eagleton.

From Slate • Sep. 29, 2024

Due, 31, is Cherokee and a member of the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 9, 2024

The strongest earthquake on record in Oklahoma was a magnitude 5.8 near Pawnee in September 2016.

From Seattle Times • Jan. 13, 2024

The next day, No. 46 took a train south to Perry, but Brown wasn’t there, either; he was now said to be in Pawnee County.

From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann

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