Christopher Columbus
1
3.9
- proper noun
- /ˈkrɪs.tə.fər kəˈlʌm.bəs/
:
Cristóbal Colón
- Ponce de León was a Spanish explorer who led the first European expedition to Florida and who first sailed to the New World on Christopher Columbus's second voyage in 1493.
- Christopher Columbus' First Voyage
- 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus
- Christopher Columbus' First
Examples
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What if Christopher Columbus had let fear get in the way?
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Today is the federal holiday honoring Christopher Columbus, the alleged discoverer of the Americas.
Blog text (4) -
At its center is the 13-foot-tall marble statue of Christopher Columbus, made by Gaetano Russo, that has graced the plaza for 120 years.
Blog text (4) -
In 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed across the Atlantic Ocean, seeking a new route to Asia.
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Christopher Columbus made four voyages to the Americas, which significantly impacted global history.
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The statue of Christopher Columbus in the city square commemorates his role in the exploration of the New World.
Synonyms
109
4.4
An Italian explorer from the 1400s who sailed across the Atlantic and reached the Americas
An Italian explorer who sailed across the ocean to the Americas
The Spanish name for the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus who reached the Americas in 1492
Surface Forms
Morphology
Christopher + Columbus
This is a referential proper name whose meaning (an Italian explorer who made voyages to the Americas) cannot be derived from the constituent words. Proper names are arbitrary and require specific world knowledge rather than compositional inference, so a B1 learner who only knows the parts would not be able to infer the historical biography.
Etymology
Christopher Columbus was an Italian sailor who sailed west in 1492 and reached land that Europeans later called 'the Americas', creating the image of ships finding new shores. Because of that trip, his name now stands for early European 'exploration' and the start of contact and settlement in those lands.