apache
noun
a Parisian gangster, rowdy, or ruffian.
Showing results for apache.
apache
1 American
[uh-pahsh, uh-pash, a -pash]
/ əˈpɑʃ, əˈpæʃ, aˈpaʃ /
noun
apaches
plural
Apache
2
American
[uh-pach-ee]
/ əˈpætʃ i /
noun
Apaches,
plural
Apache
plural
-
a member of an Athabascan people of the southwestern United States.
-
any of the several Athabascan languages of Arizona and the Rio Grande basin.
-
Military. a two-man U.S. Army helicopter designed to attack enemy armor with rockets or a 30mm gun and equipped for use in bad weather and in darkness.
adjective
Apache
1
British
/ əˈpætʃɪ /
noun
-
a member of a North American Indian people, formerly nomadic and warlike, inhabiting the southwestern US and N Mexico
-
the language of this people, belonging to the Athapascan group of the Na-Dene phylum
apache
2
British
/ əˈpɑːʃ, apaʃ, -ˈpæʃ /
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of apache1
1735–45, < French: Apache
Origin of Apache2
First recorded in 1915–20; from Mexican Spanish, perhaps from Zuni ʔa·paču “Navajos,” presumably applied formerly to the Apacheans (Navajos and Apaches) generally
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:
He’s Dad the destroyer, who mapped out the steps for the apache dance that defines his children’s lives.
From New York Times ● Jul. 28, 2014
But the broken, jagged heart of this production belongs to Ms. Rodriguez and Mr. Cannavale, who turn their characters’ relationship into a bruising, tragicomic apache dance of love, betrayal and indecision.
From New York Times ● Apr. 12, 2011
The result is a bravura hodgepodge of Spanish and gypsy dances, pas de deux, a smattering of light-footed cupids and dryads and, for some obscure reason, a jig resembling a French apache dance.
From Time Magazine Archive
It happened that the train stopped and the apache was persuaded to go out and get his prisoner's canteen filled.
From The Enormous Room by Cummings, E. E. (Edward Estlin)
By all the gods! 'twas Julot the apache.
From Ballads of a Bohemian by Service, Robert W. (Robert William)
The court heard he told Helen he had served in the Army air corps for 27 years, and was an Apache helicopter pilot until 2018.
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026
A Corsair was used in June to rescue the crew of an Apache helicopter that was downed off the coast of Oman.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026
Breakdance posse The Rock Steady Crew are introduced with a blast of the Apache drumbeat.
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026
Pastor Robert Soto was decked out in full garb as a feather dancer and member of the Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026
When the Apache women found their broken bodies on the rocks below, they cried huge, desperate tears, which turned to stone when they touched the earth.
From "Educated" by Tara Westover
Apaches have been flying low over the strait for maritime patrols and precision strikes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 9, 2026
Kid Rock, a supporter of President Donald Trump, posted a video of himself gesturing at the AH-64 Apaches above his swimming pool on Saturday, prompting many to question why the helicopters would visit his home.
From BBC ● Mar. 31, 2026
With the Apaches in pursuit, Bendire placed the egg in his mouth and fled back to his troops.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 23, 2026
“Faced with the government’s plan to destroy an ancient site of tribal worship, we owe the Apaches no less,” Gorsuch wrote.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 27, 2025
The Apaches were at war but had no warriors, so perhaps she thought the ending too bleak to say aloud.
From "Educated" by Tara Westover
Cowboys, apaches, and residents of Newport have probably far more grievous protests.
From Time Magazine Archive
But remember the crooks in Turn to the Right and the apaches in Seoenfh Heaven.
From Time Magazine Archive
From this radical start, she went on to order the fashionable women of three continents into the turtleneck sweaters of the apaches, to expose their knees and suppress their curves.
From Time Magazine Archive
The place was packed—some said owing to the engagement of Andrea Korust and his brother, others to the presence of Mademoiselle Sophie Celaire in her wonderful danse des apaches.
From Peter Ruff and the Double Four by Oppenheim, E. Phillips (Edward Phillips)
The Worst apaches in the city of New York; death contractors—the lowest bidders!
From The Adventures of Jimmie Dale by Packard, Frank L. (Frank Lucius)
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.
