Advertisement - Continue reading below

Definition of "kachina" []

  • Any of numerous deified ancestral spirits of the Pueblo peoples, believed to reside in the pueblo for part of each year. (noun)
  • A masked dancer believed to embody a particular spirit during a religious ceremony. (noun)
  • A carved doll in the costume of a particular spirit, usually presented as a gift to a child. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "kachina" in a sentence
  • "The word kachina is a little confusing since it refers to the dolls, which have no power."
  • "Phoenix's character chooses to live life in the Nevada desert as a hermit making Navajo kachina dolls that he believes have magical powers (a kachina is a spirit in western Pueblo cosmology and religious practices)."
  • ""ka", part of the word kachina, the Hopi spirits, of which Masau'u was one."
Words like "kachina"