cliff dweller
noun
1
often capitalized C&D
a
: a member of a prehistoric American Indian people of the southwestern U.S. who built their homes on rock ledges or in the natural recesses of canyon walls and cliffs
b
: a member of any cliff-dwelling people
2
: a resident of a large usually metropolitan apartment building
cliff dwelling
noun
Examples of cliff dweller in a Sentence
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In reality, the cliff dwellers had been Ancestral Puebloans who had migrated south to the modern pueblos in New Mexico and Arizona.
—
Mike Bezemek, Smithsonian Magazine, 10 July 2025
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Mike Bezemek, Smithsonian Magazine, 10 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Cliff dweller.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cliff%20dweller. Accessed 21 Jul. 2025.
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