Yoruba
Americannoun
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Yorubas,
plural
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Yoruba
plural
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a member of a numerous West African coastal people.
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the language of the Yoruba, a Kwa language.
noun
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a member of a Negroid people of W Africa, living chiefly in the coastal regions of SW Nigeria: noted for their former city states and complex material culture, particularly as evidenced in their music, art, and sculpture
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the language of this people, belonging to the Kwa branch of the Niger-Congo family
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Nouns
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:
Naomi: We wanted to be with our people and show the real Yoruba, Cuban way of living.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
These customs fused with those of Nigeria's Yoruba people, leading to creations like the Fanti Carnival.
From BBC ● Apr. 7, 2026
“I’m Caribbean, so a lot of my family practices a Yoruba religion, which comes from Africa. In the Caribbean, it’s well known as Santería.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 2, 2026
He spent time in Ghana absorbing highlife's structure, horn phrasing, and dance-oriented arrangements before fusing it with jazz, funk, the rhythms of his own Yoruba people, and political storytelling.
From BBC ● Jan. 29, 2026
Amari means ‘Strength’ if you use the Yoruba translation.
From "Harbor Me" by Jacqueline Woodson
Meanwhile, among the Yorubas and Igbos of southern Nigeria, some marks are linked to life and death.
From BBC ● May 20, 2022
“Don’t you hear the Yorubas speaking their own language?”
From The Guardian ● Mar. 14, 2019
In Gusau, there was a sizeable population of ethnic Yorubas from south-western Nigeria, Igbos from the south-east, and thriving Indian and Lebanese communities.
From BBC ● May 18, 2018
The Nigerian government is currently dominated by Christian Yorubas.
From New York Times ● Dec. 24, 2012
This is the great outlet of the rich valley of the Niger by land, and the only point of the ocean upon which the intelligent and advanced Yorubas are settled.
From Official Report of the Niger Valley Exploring Party by Martin Robison Delany
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.
