Jump To:

• pueblo
  pueblo

  noun

  a communal structure for multiple dwelling and defensive purposes of certain agricultural Indians of the southwestern United States: built of adobe or stone, typically many-storied and terraced, the structures were often placed against cliff walls, with entry through the roof by ladder.
• Pueblo
  Pueblo

  noun

  a city in central Colorado.

pueblo

¹ American  

[pweb-loh, pwe-blaw] / ˈpwɛb loʊ, ˈpwɛ βlɔ /

noun

pueblos plural

1. a communal structure for multiple dwelling and defensive purposes of certain agricultural Indians of the southwestern United States: built of adobe or stone, typically many-storied and terraced, the structures were often placed against cliff walls, with entry through the roof by ladder.

2. (initial capital letter) a member of a group of Indian peoples living in pueblo villages in New Mexico and Arizona since prehistoric times.

3. an Indian village.

4. (in Spanish America) a town or village.

5. (in the Philippines) a town or a township.

---

Pueblo ² American  

[pweb-loh] / ˈpwɛb loʊ /

noun

1. a city in central Colorado.

---

pueblo ¹ British  

/ ˈpweβlo, ˈpwɛbləʊ /

noun

1. a communal village, built by certain Indians of the southwestern US and parts of Latin America, consisting of one or more flat-roofed stone or adobe houses

2. (in Spanish America) a village or town

3. (in the Philippines) a town or township

---

Pueblo ² British  

/ ˈpwɛbləʊ /

noun

1. a member of any of the North American Indian peoples who live in pueblos, including the Tanoans, Zuñi, and Hopi

---

Pueblo ³ British  

/ ˈpwɛbləʊ /

noun

1. a city in Colorado: a centre of the steel industry. Pop: 103 648 (2003 est)

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• prepueblo
  adjective

Inflected Forms

noun

• pueblos
  plural

Etymology

Origin of pueblo

An Americanism dating back to 1800–10; from Colonial Spanish; Spanish: “town,” from Latin populus “community, people, nation”; cf. people ( def. )

Explanation

If your home is in a pueblo, you probably live in the southwestern part of the United States, in a community of adobe houses. This noun of Spanish origin refers to a structure and institution of Native American origin: a communal village consisting of contiguous, multistory flat-roofed houses. Spanish explorers of the American Southwest were the first to use the word pueblo. The ultimate root, populus, is Latin and is related to population and people. Today, the state of New Mexico is home to the greatest number of pueblos still in use.

Example Sentences

Instead they encountered Hawikku, an adobe pueblo in what is now western New Mexico.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 28, 2026

Coronado climbed a ladder up the pueblo walls in his clanking armor.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 28, 2026

Hackman and Arakawa “were not interested in re-creating native pueblo architecture,” he added.

From MarketWatch • Jan. 19, 2026

I met my hosts at the restaurant’s entrance, made to look like a pueblo plaza complete with a huge water fountain, towering church steeple and a pink exterior better suited for a spoonful of Pepto-Bismol.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 23, 2025

Tfo Juan was the oldest man in his pueblo.

From "Seedfolks" by Paul Fleischman