Yakima

American  

[yak-uh-muh] / ˈjæk əˌmə /

noun

Yakimas, plural Yakima plural

1. a city in southern Washington State.

2. a river in south central Washington State. 203 miles (327 kilometers) long.

3. former name of the Yakama and their language (often used attributively).

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• Yakima
  plural
• Yakimas
  plural

Etymology

Origin of Yakima

see origin at Yakama ( def. )

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Yakima Yakimas

I did talk to people who are happy with Runna, including Jewel Christensen, a seasoned runner from Yakima, Wash.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 8, 2026

Bishop Joseph Tyson of Yakima, Washington State, was one of the 216 who supported the USCCB's Special Message.

From BBC ● Dec. 23, 2025

Before he became a standout for the Rams and a star at Eastern Washington, Cooper Kupp was a hometown hero on the football fields of Yakima, Wash.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 14, 2025

He was undersized and largely unrecruited out of Davis High in Yakima, Wash., where basketball was traditionally a bigger deal.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 8, 2025

Ninety minutes after the blast, ash began to rain down on Yakima, Washington, a community of fifty thousand people about eighty miles away.

From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson

In Toppenish a few of the Yakimas were informed of the stranger's personnel as he and his "escorts," or "body guard," as one observer commented, stepped into the Agency car and was whirled away.

From The Discards by McWhorter, Lucullus Virgil

Far, then, from coining the word, Winthrop did not even change its Indian form, as some have supposed, by modifying the mouth-filling "Tahoma" of the Yakimas into the simpler, stronger and more musical "Tacoma."

From The Mountain that was 'God' Being a Little Book About the Great Peak Which the Indians Named 'Tacoma' but Which is Officially Called 'Rainier' by Williams, John H. (John Harvey)

Later on, the Yakimas were driven back by the whites; so that there have been three conquests of the lower Willamette Valley since the fall of the ancient race,—two Indian conquests before the white.

From The Bridge of the Gods A Romance of Indian Oregon. 19th Edition. by Balch, Frederic Homer

All the great tribes of the Columbia plains west of the Nez Percés had broken out, the Cayuses, Yakimas, Palouses, Walla Wallas, Umatillas, and Klickitats.

From The Columbia River Its History, Its Myths, Its Scenery, Its Commerce by Lyman, William Denison

The Nez Percés, thanks to Lawyer’s fidelity, were still friendly, and with these two powerful tribes arrayed against the Yakimas, there was still hope of holding the Columbia Valley.

From The Columbia River Its History, Its Myths, Its Scenery, Its Commerce by Lyman, William Denison