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

Our protagonist, the surly and depressed writer Ohm, has been stuck on the ending to his book series featuring a conquistador lost in the desert with a young companion and a map trapped inside a bottle. —Katie Walsh, Twin Cities, 2 May 2026

Our protagonist, the surly and depressed writer Ohm, has been stuck on the ending to his book series featuring a conquistador lost in the desert with a young companion and a map trapped inside a bottle. —Katie Walsh, Boston Herald, 1 May 2026

The conquistador realizes a human skull could be hard enough to shatter the glass. —Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 1 May 2026

There is a kind of logical payoff to the conquistador story, but the disparate images of that setting haunts (and not in a good way) an otherwise very scary and very aesthetically coherent movie. —ABC News, 29 Apr. 2026

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"