Showing results for Santa Fe Trail. Search instead for Santa+Fe+Trail.

Santa Fe Trail

American

noun

an important trade route going between Independence, Missouri, and Santa Fe, New Mexico, used from about 1821 to 1880.

Santa Fe Trail British

/ ˈsæntə ˈfeɪ /

noun

an important trade route in the western US from about 1821 to 1880, linking Independence, Missouri to Santa Fe, New Mexico

"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

Santa Fe Trail Cultural

Trail extending from Independence, Missouri, southwest to Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Discover More

Important route used by settlers moving west.

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.

The road’s original alignment followed the Camino Real and the Santa Fe Trail, both Spanish colonial routes.

From Los Angeles Times • May 12, 2026

Santa Fe Trail Transportation decision broadened those protections, ruling Section 1981 prohibits racial discrimination in private employment against white people as well as people of color.

From Seattle Times • Jan. 14, 2024

Joe Swanson, of Santa Fe Trail Farms, started using bees last summer.

From Washington Times • Jan. 10, 2020

Film actor who starred in westerns including Santa Fe Trail with Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland and the Oscar nominated King's Row.

From BBC • Mar. 22, 2018

Literature on "Santa Fe and the Santa Fe Trail" is pertinent.

From Guide to Life and Literature of the Southwest, with a Few Observations by Dobie, J. Frank (James Frank)

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023