El Dorado
noun
Did you know?
In the early 1500s, Spanish conquistadores heard tales of an Amazonian king who regularly coated his body with gold dust, then plunged into a nearby lake to wash it off while being showered with gold and jewels thrown by his subjects. The Spaniards called the city ruled by this flamboyant monarch El Dorado, Spanish for "gilded one," and the story of the gold-covered king eventually grew into a legend of a whole country paved with gold. These days, El Dorado can also used generically for any place of vast riches, abundance, or opportunity. It is also the name of actual cities in Arkansas and Kansas.
Examples of El Dorado in a Sentence
Ishani Desai, Sacramento Bee, 1 Feb. 2025
On Friday, officials from the department took their second monthly manual snow reading at Phillips Station, an area 90 miles east of Sacramento off U.S. Highway 50 in El Dorado County.
—Paul Rogers, The Mercury News, 31 Jan. 2025
The Road to El Dorado is a fun semi-historical adventure romp, following Kevin Kline and Kenneth Branagh as two Spanish con artists who stumble their way into finding the legendary city of gold on a voyage to the New World.
—James Grebey, Vulture, 31 Jan. 2025
But even after that planeload arrived at El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá, the Colombian capital, on Tuesday, passengers were caught up in long and tedious inspections at airports in Florida.
—Simón Posada, New York Times, 30 Jan. 2025
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Dictionary Entries Near El Dorado
Cite this Entry
“El Dorado.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/El%20Dorado. Accessed 7 Feb. 2025.
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