a chain of hills or mountains, the peaks of which suggest the teeth of a saw.
any of several Spanish mackerels of the genus Scomberomorus, especially S. sierra, found in western North America.
a word used in communications to represent the letter S.
1590–1600; < Spanish: literally, saw < Latin serra
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
I spotted a brown chestnut-winged cinclodes with a little pointy beak, and a slate-blue plumbeous sierra finch with pink legs.
From New York Times ● Apr. 26, 2023
In this recipe, which is adapted from “The Food of Oaxaca,” chef and author Alejandro Ruiz recommends sierra or mahi-mahi, which are caught off the coast of Puerto Escondido in Oaxaca.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 26, 2021
The sierra and Gran Parque Natural Topes de Collantes, where you’ll find the Caburní waterfall, are a popular day trip from Trinidad, though most people head to Parque el Cubano, which borders Trinidad.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 24, 2018
The trail is a high sierra alpine environment that reaches between 8,000 and 12,000 feet.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2016
The sun was already close down to the summit of the sierra, when the Yellow Chief and his followers once more surmounted the ridge that brought them in sight of the encampment.
From The Yellow Chief by Reid, Mayne
Last week, leaders of the West African regional bloc Ecowas condemned reported attacks on African migrants in South Africa, as Nigeria and Ghana raised the issue at a summit in Sierra Leone.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
In the wild, they grow only on the western slopes of California's Sierra Nevada.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 26, 2026
OpenAI’s board is chaired by Bret Taylor, the former co-CEO of Salesforce and chief executive of the AI startup Sierra.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
In their complaint, filed in federal court in Washington state, groups including the Center for Biological Diversity and the Sierra Club argued the government had blatantly violated "common sense, biological science, and federal law."
From Barron's ● Jul. 14, 2026
“My dad made it!” said Sierra, waving at a man smiling proudly in the crowd.
From "Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics" by Chris Grabenstein
The story of Maoism’s travels takes in the tea plantations of north India, the sierras of the Andes, Paris’s 5th arrondissement, the fields of Tanzania, rice paddies in Cambodia and terraces in Brixton.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 16, 2019
Our water comes from Hetch Hetchy in the sierras.
From New York Times ● Dec. 29, 2017
These animals continue to shape the sierras and surrounding mountain landscape.
From Scientific American ● Aug. 31, 2017
He’ll be remembered as much if not more as a tragic caudillo, a reminder that revolutionaries are usually a lot less romantic when they come down from the sierras and govern.
From Time ● Nov. 26, 2016
The train clicked by the Union Stock Yards, doubly pungent in the day’s strange warmth, and skirted sierras of black coal capped with grimy melting snow.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
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.
