pueblo

Meanings

1. 1nouncountableAmericanspecialist

   A village built by Native peoples of the southwestern United States, with flat-roofed stone or adobe houses stacked in several levels.

   Grammar: Often capitalized when naming a specific community: Taos Pueblo.

   Patterns

   • the pueblo of something
   • a pueblo in something

   Tourists climbed ladders to explore the ancient pueblo cliffside.

   The pueblo has been lived in for more than a thousand years.

   Taos Pueblo is one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities in the country.

2. 2nouncountablerare

   A town or village in Spain or Latin America, or a small settlement in the Spanish-speaking world.

   Grammar: In English, used for Spanish-speaking places or in place names.

   Patterns

   • a pueblo in something

   They stayed in a small pueblo in the mountains of Mexico.

   The painter grew up in a quiet pueblo near the coast.

Word forms

Common combinations

ancestral pueblo

Ancestral pueblo people built the cliff dwellings.

pueblo dwelling

The pueblo dwelling had thick adobe walls.

pueblo revival

The library is built in pueblo revival style.

pueblo pottery

Pueblo pottery is prized by collectors.

visit a pueblo

We visited a pueblo near Santa Fe.

Synonyms and how they differ

village

Village is a general word for a small settlement, while pueblo names a specific type or Spanish-speaking one.

adobe

Adobe is the mud-brick material, but a pueblo is the entire settlement.

settlement

Settlement is a general term for any place where people live, with no cultural detail.

Word family

Puebloan adjective

relating to the Pueblo peoples

Pueblo proper noun

a Native people of the Southwest

pueblos noun

plural form of the word

Pueblo Revival noun

an architectural style inspired by pueblos

Commonly confused: pueblo or pueblo vs. pablo?

Practice

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