conquistador

noun

con·​quis·​ta·​dor kän-ˈkē-stə-ˌdȯr 

kən-,

 also  -ˈkwi-,

-ˈki-

plural conquistadores (ˌ)kän-ˌkē-stə-ˈdȯr-ēz 

-ˈdȯr-ˌās,

kən-;

(ˌ)kän-ˌkwi-,

-ˌki-

or conquistadors

: one that conquers

specifically : a leader in the Spanish conquest of America and especially of Mexico and Peru in the 16th century

Examples of conquistador in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Wilson counts the Edwardian explorer and conquistador among his top choices. —Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 15 Feb. 2025

Soon after, conquistador Hernán Cortés arrived in Central America and began the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire in 1519, which ended in 1521 with the fall of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital. —Jack Knudson, Discover Magazine, 30 Jan. 2025

Flores said the team found an underground passage connecting two of Cusco’s key Inca monuments: the Temple of the Sun—which conquistadors ruined and covered with a Catholic church in the 16th century—and the Sacsayhuamán fortress, a 15th-century Inca monument of stone walls more than a mile away. —Sonja Anderson, Smithsonian Magazine, 21 Jan. 2025

In response, by the accounts of Diaz and Cortés himself, the conquistador sank the ships that had brought them to Mexico. —Livia Gershon, JSTOR Daily, 5 Dec. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Spanish, ultimately from Latin conquirere — see conquer

First Known Use

1830, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for conquistador

• forevermore
• hereinbefore
• kinetochore
• kwashiorkor
• abhor
• abor
• adore
• afore
• ardour
• ashore
• backdoor
• before

Kids Definition

conquistador

noun

con·​quis·​ta·​dor kȯŋ-ˈkēs-tə-ˌdȯ(ə)r 

kän-ˈk(w)is-,

kən-

plural conquistadores kȯŋ-ˌkēs-tə-ˈdȯr-ēz 

-ˈdȯr-ˌās;

-ˈdōr-;

kän-k(w)is-,

ˈkən-

or conquistadors

: a leader in the Spanish conquest of America in the 16th century

Etymology

Spanish, derived from Latin conquirere "to search for"