Native Americans

Cultural  

1. The descendants of the original inhabitants of North America and South America before the arrival of white settlers from Europe, also called Indians or American Indians. The term Native American is sometimes preferred over Indian because the latter is a misnomer that originated with Columbus, who mistook the inhabitants of America for the people of India. Both terms, however, are accepted.

---

Discover More

In recent years, Native American activism has taken the form of calls for the protection of their tribal or ancestral shrines and artifacts.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Native Americans

"The thing that surprised me was how early on there were these Scots and Irish marrying Native Americans," he said.

From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026

"But I want people to remember that Native Americans have been here a lot longer than 250 years," he said.

From Barron's ● Jul. 4, 2026

Or to believe that Edward Hicks, who was a Quaker and led a spartan life, was complicit in the horrors visited on Native Americans in the name of land acquisition?

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 3, 2026

Colonists even dressed up as Native Americans for the Boston Tea Party—a practice that historian Philip Deloria refers to as “playing Indian.”

From Slate ● Jul. 3, 2026

Since the sixteenth century, the origins of Native Americans have been an intellectual puzzle.*

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann