Santa Maria

American  

[san-tuh muh-ree-uh, sahn-tah mah-ree-ah, sahn-tuh mah-ree-ah] / ˈsæn tə məˈri ə, ˈsɑn tɑ mɑˈri ɑ, ˈsɑ̃ tə mɑˈri ɑ /

noun

1. (italics) the flagship used by Columbus when he made his first voyage of discovery to America in 1492.

2. an active volcano in W Guatemala. 12,300 feet (3,750 meters).

3. a city in S Brazil.

4. a city in W California.

5. calaba.

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Santa Maria ¹ British  

noun

1. a city in S Brazil, in Rio Grande do Sul state. Pop: 252 000 (2005 est)

2. an active volcano in SW Guatemala. Height: 3768 m (12 362 ft)

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Santa Maria ² British  

/ ˈsæntə məˈriːə /

noun

1. the flagship of Columbus on his first voyage to America (1492)

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Example Sentences

Officers responded to Broadway and Miller Street around 1:40 a.m. and found a vehicle had struck a traffic signal, the Santa Maria Police Department said in a news release.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 10, 2026

The city’s emblem and its flag display the Santa Maria, Columbus’s flagship, which led the way in the trans-Atlantic voyage of 1492.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 4, 2026

In an April 29 press release, Markon Cooperative, a farm-to-table produce cooperative, noted that cauliflower supplies from the Salinas Valley and Santa Maria, CA, are extremely limited.

From Salon • May 27, 2026

Samples were collected near the Santa Maria da Serra dam, close to the Barra Bonita reservoir, where contaminants from across the river basin tend to gather.

From Science Daily • Mar. 21, 2026

At the end of the semester, after the elections, we were to turn in a scrapbook with all the articles about the campaign published in the Santa Maria Times, the local newspaper.

From "Breaking Through" by Francisco Jiménez