Wounded Knee

American  

noun

1. a village in SW South Dakota: site of a massacre of about 300 Oglala Sioux Indians on Dec. 29, 1890.

---

Wounded Knee Cultural  

1. A creek in South Dakota where United States soldiers killed large numbers of Dakota Native Americans — Sioux — in 1890. The Sioux, under Chief Big Foot, had been resisting settlement of the area and had fled to Montana, but United States troops brought them back to South Dakota for detention. As the soldiers were disarming the warriors in an army camp at Wounded Knee, a rifle shot alarmed the soldiers, and fighting broke out in which more than two hundred Sioux were killed, including women and children. The massacre was the last major military conflict between whites and Native Americans.

---

Example Sentences

There is no game left for him to play, no purpose in trying to pivot on his wounded knee and search for something else.

From Washington Post • Mar. 14, 2023

Federer confessed that a year ago he did not think he would get past the quarter-finals here, given he had been out for six months healing his wounded knee.

From The Guardian • Jan. 28, 2018

Nadal, who tumbled out of the championships in a straight sets defeat by Belgian journeyman Steve Darcis on the opening day, declined to blame his wounded knee despite persistent questioning at the post-match news conference.

From Reuters • Jun. 25, 2013

Photograph: Christophe Ena/AP There has been unprecedented carnage among the favourites, who now total three, or perhaps two and a half depending on the state of Alberto Contador's wounded knee.

From The Guardian • Jul. 11, 2011

Matty swallowed, took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and placed both of his hands on his wounded knee.

From "Messenger" by Lois Lowry