tonga
1 Americannoun
noun
noun
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a member of a Negroid people of S central Africa, living chiefly in Zambia and Zimbabwe
-
the language of this people, belonging to the Bantu group of the Niger-Congo family
noun
noun
Etymology
Origin of tonga
First recorded in 1870–75, tonga is from the Hindi word tāṅgā
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:
I suppose their might be a risk of some of the potential GB players competing for their home countries - tonga, samoa, south africa, new zealand, holland etc. but i'm sure it'll be good.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 7, 2012
"Na, na, damchee, na, na, damchee! " wailed the tongawalla to a British officer, who was trying to rent his two-wheeled tonga at an air base in India.
From Time Magazine Archive
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It's a shorter cut down to the maharajah's stables in Darpore town than by the tonga road.
From The Three Sapphires by W. A. Fraser
"We shall get to Deoli in six hours," said Ram Baksh the boastful, and, even as he spoke, the spring of the tonga bar snapt "mit a harp-like melodious twang."
From From Sea to Sea Letters of Travel by Rudyard Kipling
Then said the driver: "Had there been no tonga behind us, I should have put the mails on a horse, because the Sirkar's mail cannot stop."
From From Sea to Sea Letters of Travel by Rudyard Kipling
In its nomination, Tonga highlighted A-Baki's roles as a cabinet minister, the first women ambassador from Ecuador to Washington and ambassador to Qatar.
From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026
During the Tonga eruption, massive amounts of salty seawater were blasted into the stratosphere together with volcanic ash.
From Science Daily ● May 10, 2026
Tonga Nolan grew up in a predominantly Black neighborhood on the north side of Baton Rouge and remembers it fondly as a tight-knit community.
From Salon ● May 10, 2026
England's first match at the Rugby World Cup, a pool-stage meeting with Tonga in Brisbane, is less than 16 months away.
From BBC ● May 5, 2026
Dryland agriculture became especially productive on Easter, tiny Anuta, and flat and low Tonga, where Polynesians devoted most of the land area to the growing of food.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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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.