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
First recorded in 1870–75, tonga is from the Hindi word tāṅgā
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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
The Thakur's tonga came up with a rush, ran deliberately across the bows of the Englishman, chipped a pony, and passed on.
From From Sea to Sea Letters of Travel by Kipling, Rudyard
If there are any ‘griffs’ in this company, I may explain for their benefit that a tonga is a kind of bullock wagon, and a bilewallah is the driver of the same.
From McClure's Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 4, September 1893 by Various
"All the Sahibs use my tonga; I've got eight of them and twenty pairs of horses," said Ram Baksh.
From From Sea to Sea Letters of Travel by Kipling, Rudyard
The second encounter occurred during a 2024 expedition to the Tonga Trench aboard the R/V Dagon as part of the Inkfish Open Ocean Expedition, led by scientists from the Minderoo-UWA Deep-Sea Research Center.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 8, 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
We spent years leaving medical records scattered from Tonga to Iceland; it’s time for a bit more continuity of care.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 22, 2026
Loughborough Lightning number eight Haineala Lutui, daughter of former Tonga, Worcester and Gloucester hooker Aleki, is rewarded for her fine form.
From BBC ● Mar. 20, 2026
Specialization increased on larger, more densely populated islands, reaching a peak on Samoa, the Societies, and especially Tonga and Hawaii.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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.
