Zairian

American

[zah-eer-ee-uhn] / zɑˈɪər i ən /

Or Zairean

adjective

of or relating to Zaire or its people.

noun

a native or inhabitant of Zaire.

Zaïrian British

/ zɑːˈɪərɪən /

adjective

of or relating to the former Zaïre (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) or its inhabitants

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

noun

a native or inhabitant of Zaïre

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of Zairian

First recorded in 1970–75; Zaire + -ian

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.

The angry Zairian foreign minister put out a chastising call to Ali.

From Time • Jun. 4, 2016

But African music in the 80s was just about dance, partying, Congolese guitars and "la Sape", the Zairian form of dandyism.

From The Guardian • Jan. 18, 2013

The two men cut a deal: in exchange for being given command over the 2,000 Zairian Tutsi soldiers, Kabila agreed to conduct a broadly based revolution aimed at toppling Mobutu from power.

From Time Magazine Archive

Not long ago, a private German printer, claiming it had not been paid, halted shipments to Kinshasa of thousands of metric tons of new Zairian currency needed to keep up with local inflation.

From Time Magazine Archive

I thought of the six pathetic little infant chimps who were confiscated in Kigoma from Zairian hunters the previous year.

From "My Life with the Chimpanzees" by Jane Goodall

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023