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Sancho Panza

American  
[san-choh pan-zuh, sahn-chaw pahn-thah] / ˈsæn tʃoʊ ˈpæn zə, ˈsɑn tʃɔ ˈpɑn θɑ /

noun

  1. the credulous and amusing squire of Don Quixote.


Sancho Panza Cultural  
  1. In Don Quixote, the down-to-Earth peasant who accompanies the idealistic, deluded Don on his adventures. Sancho is a delightful coward, more interested in material comfort and safety than in performing courageous acts.


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.

I mop their famous gravy with a hunk of sourdough and hear Sancho Panza in my head and I grin.

From Salon • Jun. 23, 2026

I was like a young Walter Mitty; a Don Quixote with no Sancho Panza.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 15, 2021

This research was ultimately used to provide a colourfully debauched backdrop to The Extra Man, in which Ames’s relationship with his roommate was recast as a modern day Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.

From The Guardian • Nov. 24, 2018

But Gilliam pressed on and finally managed to complete the film, in which Jonathan Pryce and Adam Driver play contemporary versions of Cervantes' Don Quixote and Sancho Panza characters.

From BBC • May 7, 2018

The envelope read: "To the Honorable Don Sancho Panza, Governor of Barataria Island, in his own hands or in the hands of his secretary."

From "Adventures of Don Quixote" by Argentina Palacios

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