powwow
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A council of or with Native Americans.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
powwowSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈpaʊwaʊ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A council of or with Native Americans
A ritual conducted by a Native American shaman.
A Native American shaman. [from 17th c.]
informal
A short, private conference. [from 19th c.]
informal
A quick private conference
A tradition of folk magic practiced by the Pennsylvania Dutch.
verb
intransitiveof Native Americans
To hold a meeting; to gather together in council.
(intransitive, of Native Americans and by extension other groups, such as the Pennsylvania Dutch) To conduct a ritual in which magic is used.
Hold a powwow, talk, conference or meeting
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A council of or with Native Americans
Used this way, powwow is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- huddle , used mainly in Regional English
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.