Meaning & use
Santa Fe
Last updated
Meanings
proper nounproper
The capital city of the US state of New Mexico, famous for its adobe buildings, arts community and high desert setting.
Grammar: Always capitalized, with no article: she moved to Santa Fe.
Patterns
- in Santa Fe
- visit Santa Fe
We spent a weekend in Santa Fe visiting art galleries.
Santa Fe is one of the oldest state capitals in the United States.
Many painters have moved to Santa Fe for the light.
adjectivebefore a nounAmerican
Describing a style of architecture, decoration or cooking inspired by the Spanish and Native American traditions of the American Southwest.
Grammar: Used as a modifier before a noun: Santa Fe style, Santa Fe chicken.
Patterns
- Santa Fe style
They built a Santa Fe style house with thick adobe walls.
The restaurant serves Santa Fe chicken with roasted chiles.
Turquoise jewellery is a Santa Fe tradition.
Common combinations
- Santa Fe style
- The hotel is decorated in Santa Fe style.
- Santa Fe Trail
- Traders once followed the Santa Fe Trail west.
- Santa Fe Opera
- The Santa Fe Opera performs outdoors in summer.
- in downtown Santa Fe
- We stayed in downtown Santa Fe near the plaza.
- Santa Fe Railway
- The Santa Fe Railway helped open the Southwest.
Word family
- Santa Fean noun
- a person from Santa Fe
- New Mexico proper noun
- the state where Santa Fe is the capital
- adobe noun
- sun-dried clay used for building
- Southwestern adjective
- of the American Southwest
Commonly confused: Santa Fe or Santa Fé?
Santa Fe vs Santa Fé
The accented spelling is Spanish and appears on the Argentine city; for the New Mexico capital English uses Santa Fe without an accent.
Practice
Santa Fe is the capital of which US state?
Choose one answer.
Santa Fe is the capital of New Mexico. Arizona's capital is Phoenix, Texas's is Austin and Colorado's is Denver.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “Santa Fe”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.