plural Apache or Apaches
ə-ˈpa-chēz 
-ˈpash,
-ˈpa-shəz
1
: a member of a group of Indigenous peoples of the southwestern U.S.
2
: any of the Athabascan languages of the Apache people
3
not capitalized
[French, from Apache Apache Indian]
a
: a member of a gang of criminals especially in Paris
b
: ruffian
Examples of Apache in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
This warning applies to Chinle Valley, Little Colorado River Valley in Coconino, Little Colorado River Valley in Navajo, Little Colorado River Valley in Apache and Northeast Plateaus and Mesas South of Highway 264.
—
Hayleigh Evans, AZCentral.com, 28 Oct. 2025
This includes a Mescalero Apache tribal member who was pulled out of a store and asked for his passport, and a California man who was previously deported by mistake and got another deportation order in the mail.
—Nicole Foy, ProPublica, 18 Oct. 2025
In March 2024, two SOAR unit soldiers were injured at Joint Base Lewis-McChord when their Apache helicopter crashed.
—The Hill, 23 Sep. 2025
Jose Manuel Gonzalez, a member of the Apache tribe, built this adobe structure in 1797 after being named alcalde, or magistrate, of the pueblo de San Jose de Guadalupe, California’s first municipal government, in 1785.
—Kate Bradshaw, Mercury News, 18 Sep. 2025
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Hayleigh Evans, AZCentral.com, 28 Oct. 2025
This includes a Mescalero Apache tribal member who was pulled out of a store and asked for his passport, and a California man who was previously deported by mistake and got another deportation order in the mail.
—Nicole Foy, ProPublica, 18 Oct. 2025
In March 2024, two SOAR unit soldiers were injured at Joint Base Lewis-McChord when their Apache helicopter crashed.
—The Hill, 23 Sep. 2025
Jose Manuel Gonzalez, a member of the Apache tribe, built this adobe structure in 1797 after being named alcalde, or magistrate, of the pueblo de San Jose de Guadalupe, California’s first municipal government, in 1785.
—Kate Bradshaw, Mercury News, 18 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for Apache
Cite this Entry
“Apache.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Apache. Accessed 4 Nov. 2025.
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Apache
noun
plural Apache or Apaches
: a member of a group of Indigenous peoples of the southwestern U.S.
also
: any of the languages of the Apache people
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