Somali
Americannoun
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Somalis,
plural
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Somali
plural
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a member of a people speaking a Cushitic language and living primarily in Somalia, Somaliland, and adjacent regions.
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the Cushitic language of the Somali ethnic group.
adjective
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of or relating to Somalia, its people, or their language.
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of or relating to the Somali ethnic group or their language.
noun
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a member of a tall dark-skinned people inhabiting Somalia
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the language of this people, belonging to the Cushitic subfamily of the Afro-Asiatic family of languages
adjective
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of Somali
First recorded in 1800–10 as Samaulies (plural); from Somali Soomaali, a self-designation
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.
See Examples For:
Somalia faces uncertainty regarding funding for the African Union mission, AUSSOM, which is the leading force supporting the Somali army.
From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026
Omar says she no longer has her birth certificate, and records with the Somali government are unsurprisingly unavailable, given the country’s decades of internal turmoil.
From Slate ● Oct. 13, 2026
The hijacked tanker was anchored near the Somali coast between the fishing towns of Xaafun and Bander Beyla.
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026
The small restaurant serves Somali food, and I get the same thing every time I visit: goat mendi, with fall-apart bone-in goat served over deeply seasoned rice studded with crispy bits of potato and raisins.
From Salon ● Sep. 8, 2026
Tracy joined up as well and spent time teaching English to just-arrived Somali Bantu refugees for fifteen dollars a week.
From "Outcasts United: An American Town, a Refugee Team, and One Woman's Quest to Make a Difference" by Warren St. John
He says Somalis fighting on the side of the Ethiopians were viewed as traitors for "betraying their country".
From BBC ● Jun. 6, 2026
DHS faces a new lawsuit over the apparent fast-track policy for Somalis, brought by Minnesota-based law firm Hines Immigration Law and Minneapolis-based group Advocates for Human Rights.
From Slate ● Mar. 27, 2026
The president announced the plan on a visit to the border town of Mandera, in Kenya's far north-east, which has a large population of ethnic Somalis.
From BBC ● Feb. 12, 2026
In this way, the memes and satire are likely helping young Somalis in the U.S. reaffirm their Americanness.
From Salon ● Dec. 8, 2025
Liberians, for example, often moved to Iowa; Somalis to Minneapolis or Lewiston, Maine; and Sudanese to Omaha, Nebraska, to seek out the support of communities of family, friends, and countrymen.
From "Outcasts United: An American Town, a Refugee Team, and One Woman's Quest to Make a Difference" by Warren St. John
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
