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conquistador

[kon-kwis-tuh-dawr, kong-, kawng-kees-tah-thawr] / kɒnˈkwɪs təˌdɔr, kɒŋ-, kɔŋˌkis tɑˈðɔr /
NOUN
conqueror
Synonyms
Antonyms
STRONG


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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Sporting a conquistador moustache and thighs as thick as a gaucho's steak, the culture shock was severe when the Argentina wing arrived at Harlequins.

From BBC ● Nov. 21, 2025

Landing in Peru in 1531, during the Inca Civil War, the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro found the Inca Road an ideal conduit for seizing the empire and draining it of its treasure.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2025

Hernán Cortés, the Spanish conquistador who blasted his way through Aztec Mexico, complained about them in a 1525 letter to his master, the Holy Roman Emperor.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 20, 2025

Others credit Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes, who got a taste of chocolate after being served Xocolatl by Montezuma himself.

From Salon ● Feb. 17, 2025

Las Casas, a conquistador who repented of his actions and became a priest, spent the second half of his long fife opposing European cruelty in the Americas.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

But the preoccupations among the conquistadores are plunder, religious conversions or, in Magellan’s case, an impulse to bring the world to his feet by making it navigable.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 23, 2026

Peru's largest archaeological sites are located outside Lima in places such as Cusco, which was the capital of the Inca Empire and fell to Spanish conquistadores in the 16th century.

From Reuters ● Nov. 22, 2023

Wikipedia, in reference to this sixteenth-century bloom of conquistadores, says of Extremadura that its “difficult conditions pushed many of its ambitious young men to seek their fortunes overseas.”

From The New Yorker ● Jan. 6, 2020

Spanish conquistadores came to this region in the 16th century seeking the fabled Seven Cities of Gold.

From New York Times ● Nov. 6, 2019

Numerous as were the Native American victims of the murderous Spanish conquistadores, they were far outnumbered by the victims of murderous Spanish microbes.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

A centuries-old document telling the story of the Aztec civilisation and its fall after the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in pictograms is going on display in Mexico for the first time in 186 years.

From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026

Las Casas’ arguments about Native Americans softened the hearts of very few Christian conquistadors.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 24, 2025

That has been true since the vision of a land of gold — El Dorado — drew the Spanish conquistadors to these shores.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2025

Somewhat later, Spanish conquistadors followed Columbus across the Atlantic to conquer the Aztec and Incan empires, occupying significant parts of the Americas.

From Salon ● Sep. 20, 2024

Then we could have ordered the Inca army to capture the gold-crazed conquistadors and saved the Inca civilization, and history would have been different.

From "Dead End in Norvelt" by Jack Gantos


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