machete

noun

ma·​chete mə-ˈshe-tē 

-ˈche-;

-ˈshet

: a large heavy knife used for cutting sugarcane and underbrush and as a weapon

Examples of machete in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

But one video posted to social media that appears to show a young man wielding a machete and counting down to the deadline has put migrants like Nyirenda on edge. — Nimi Princewill, CNN Money, 29 June 2026

After speaking with witnesses, officers learned that the man was involved in a verbal and physical argument with a woman and dragged her down the street while being armed with a machete. — Briauna Brown, CBS News, 29 June 2026

The man who was dragging the woman then approached the resident with the machete, and the resident shot him at least one time, police said in a news release. — Kamal Morgan, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 29 June 2026

Airborne laser mapping allowed researchers to peer through the dense canopy to detect the 37-acre settlement on the Yucatán peninsula; the team then hacked a three-mile path through the jungle with machetes to reach the site, which features a 43-foot-tall pyramid temple. — Tom Chivers, semafor.com, 25 June 2026

Word History

Etymology

Spanish

First Known Use

1575, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for machete

• agree
• allee
• banshee
• beastly
• bibi
• bowsprit
• carefree
• cerci
• chablis
• cowpea
• crappie
• crappy

Kids Definition

machete

noun

ma·​chete mə-ˈshet-ē 

-ˈchet-ē;

mə-ˈshet

: a large heavy knife used especially for cutting sugarcane and underbrush and as a weapon