Pocahontas

American  

[poh-kuh-hon-tuhs] / ˌpoʊ kəˈhɒn təs /

noun

1. Rebecca Rolfe, 1595?–1617, American Indian woman who is said to have prevented the execution of Captain John Smith.

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Pocahontas British  

/ ˌpɒkəˈhɒntəs /

noun

1. original name Matoaka; married name Rebecca Rolfe. ?1595–1617, American Indian, who allegedly saved the colonist Captain John Smith from being killed

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Pocahontas Cultural  

1. A Native American princess of the seventeenth century who befriended Captain John Smith of Virginia. She is said to have thrown herself upon him to prevent his execution by her father, Powhatan. She later married one of the Virginian settlers and traveled to England with him.

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Example Sentences

“It’s a young actress named Q’orianka Kilcher, who played Pocahontas in ‘The New World.’”

From Los Angeles Times • May 7, 2026

“I grow these peanuts,” said Baltz, who runs a 4,000-acre peanut, rice, soy and corn farm in Pocahontas, Ark.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 28, 2026

When the Pocahontas Fuel Company came to Wyoming County in 1916, the Guyandotte River valley was home to small family farms.

From Salon • Jul. 20, 2024

In her 2012 autobiography, Can’t Is Not an Option, Haley tells the story of how, as a kindergartner in her rural South Carolina elementary school, she was cast as Pocahontas in the Thanksgiving play.

From Slate • Jan. 9, 2024

Captain Smith and Richard will soon leave, but I will still have my friends living nearby: Namontack, Kainta, and Pocahontas.

From "Blood on the River" by Elisa Carbone