Skip to main content
aboriginal

aboriginal

24 6.5
Of the first people or things living in a region
  • adjective
  • /ˌæbəˈrɪdʒənl/
translation icon : indígena
  • Aboriginal people use trances, which are a kind of stage of hypnosis.
  • aboriginal people
  • aboriginal rights
  • aboriginal title

Amanda is correcting me like I had a teacher, Miss Schwenk, who had who called a conference because she was talking about Aboriginal art.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • More important, perhaps, the Supreme Court signaled that aboriginal occupancy could be proved as a historical fact.

    Academic text (2008)
  • For example, one student spoke of an experience of his roommate, an Aboriginal student.

    Academic text (2011)
  • Many of these names are of Aboriginal people; some are not.

    Academic text (2011)
  • This fella song is all about the Aboriginal people.

  • Her first professional short story appeared in Aboriginal Science Fiction in the fall of 1994.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • "Latest evidence suggests that the Aboriginal people have been here... for over 50,000 years."

  • Note: First Nations is a Canadian term of ethnicity that refers to the Aboriginal people of Canada.

    Academic text (2008)
  • The island continent of Australia has been occupied by its aboriginal inhabitants for tens of thousands of years.

    Academic text (1999)
  • It's an Aboriginal legend.

  • The Aboriginal peoples of Australia have a rich tradition of storytelling that connects them to their land.

Synonyms

native
vsaboriginal
453 1.5

From a particular place originally, often by birth or long history

are original to a region from the earliest times
indigenous
vsaboriginal
104 5.6

Living or growing naturally in a place and not moved there from somewhere else

exist in a region since the earliest times

Antonyms

106 4.9

From the time when one country controlled another

Compounds

A person who belongs to the native people of Australia or a language they speak

Surface Forms

aboriginal positive
aboriginaler comparative
aboriginalest superlative

Morphology

aboriginal = original (semi-transparent) = ab + origin + al

The form is recognizable as ab + original, but the modern meaning has specialized away from the straightforward literal sense.

Etymology

Aboriginal comes from Latin parts ab- 'from' and origo 'beginning', and you can see the same idea in the word origin. So aboriginal describes people or things that are 'from the beginning' of a place — the original inhabitants.