Seneca
1 Americannoun
plural
Senecas,plural
Seneca-
a member of the largest tribe of the Iroquois Confederacy of North American Indians, formerly inhabiting western New York and being conspicuous in the wars south and west of Lake Erie.
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an Iroquoian language of the Seneca, Onondaga, and Cayuga tribes.
noun
noun
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a member of a North American Indian people formerly living south of Lake Ontario; one of the Iroquois peoples
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the language of this people, belonging to the Iroquoian family
noun
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Lucius Annaeus (əˈniːəs), called the Younger. ?4 bc –65 ad , Roman philosopher, statesman, and dramatist; tutor and adviser to Nero. He was implicated in a plot to murder Nero and committed suicide. His works include Stoical essays on ethical subjects and tragedies that had a considerable influence on Elizabethan drama
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his father, Marcus (ˈmɑːkəs) or Lucius Annaeus, called the Elder or the Rhetorician. ?55 bc –?39 ad , Roman writer on oratory and history
Other Word Forms
- Senecan adjective
Etymology
Origin of Seneca
From the New York Dutch word Sennecaas, etc., originally applied to the Oneida and, more generally, to all the Upper Iroquois (as opposed to the Mohawk), probably < an unattested Mahican name
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 devotion is well-earned: Smith can quote Jefferson verbatim and cites Seneca and Enlightenment philosophers without blinking.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 16, 2026
Mr. Porter is a former president of the Seneca Nation.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 12, 2026
San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies arrived Wednesday about 3:40 p.m. at the gated Rancho Seneca apartment complex, near the 15 Freeway.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 3, 2025
Legal battles like the one in Seneca Lake are bringing home the realities of an industry that at first glance might seem contained to banks of data servers, removed from the real world.
From BBC • May 22, 2025
It’s likely he heard about the Fox sisters’ rapping spirits in Seneca Falls.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
