pueblo

noun pueb·lo \ ˈpwe-(ˌ)blō ; pü-ˈe- , pyü- \

|Updated on: 26 Jun 2018

Definition of pueblo

plural pueblos

1 a : the communal dwelling of an American Indian village of Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent areas consisting of contiguous flat-roofed stone or adobe houses in groups sometimes several stories high

b : an American Indian village of the southwestern U.S.

2 capitalized : a member of a group of American Indian peoples of the southwestern U.S.

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Recent Examples of pueblo from the Web

In the 1790s, Jose Vicente Feliz, a former soldier who had led the earliest Spanish settlers into the new pueblo of Los Angeles—and who later served as de facto mayor of the tiny town—was granted 6,677 acres of rancho land for his services.

— hadley meares, Los Angeles Magazine, "Who Was That? The People Behind Famous L.A. Place Names," 20 June 2018
Although the park encompasses the largest pueblo, hundreds of smaller sites dot a 100,000-square-kilometer area surrounding the point where Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah meet.

— april reese, Science | AAAS, "Drilling boom threatens web of ancient roads in Southwest," 16 May 2018
Also defeated in semi-official returns was Proposition 3, that would have given the council authority to dispose of more than 1,800 acres of city pueblo lands.

— sandiegouniontribune.com, "April 19, 1961: First councilwoman elected," 19 Apr. 2018
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico Price: $2,700,000 This gorgeously restored and updated pueblo-style home in the Historic Eastside of Santa Fe, New Mexico, is a winner of the city’s Heritage Preservation Award.

— lauren ro, Curbed, "Historic pueblo-style home with luxury updates wants $2.7M in Santa Fe," 18 Apr. 2018
The air of international bohemianism hadn’t yet descended on the pueblo.

— tyrone beason, The Seattle Times, "A reporter feels the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr.’s promised land on a Mexican mountaintop," 31 Mar. 2018
The essentials: In this comedy by Native American playwright Dillon Chitto, a senior center’s teenage bingo caller worries about leaving his pueblo for college in the outside world.

— margaret gray, latimes.com, "The 99-Seat Beat: 'Bingo Hall,' 'Proof,' Pat Kinevane and women fighting back," 9 Mar. 2018
At Los Portales, a pueblo-style collection of 20 adobe brick rooms rings around a garden, with Mexican-style equipales for the sitting

— Condé Nast Traveler, "Gage Hotel," 20 Oct. 2017
Both of her parents grew up in the state of Michoacán, in the same 1,000-person pueblo where food could be scarce and shoes a luxury.

— jeff gammage, Philly.com, "From Mexico to Swarthmore, a dream now in danger," 9 Sep. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'pueblo.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of pueblo

Spanish, village, literally, people, from Latin populus

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1808

in the meaning defined at sense 1a

See Words from the same year

Pueblo

geographical name Pueb·lo \ ˈpwe-ˌblo \

Definition of Pueblo

city on the Arkansas River in southeast central Colorado population 106,595

PUEBLO Defined for English Language Learners

pueblo

noun

Definition of pueblo for English Language Learners

: a group of Native American homes that have flat roofs and that were used in the past in the southwestern U.S.
Pueblo : a member of any of several groups of Native Americans from the southwestern U.S.