as in cowpoke
a hired hand who tends cattle or horses at a ranch or on the range cowboys were rounding up the cattle for branding

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of cowboy African American Heritage Rodeo honors the heritage of America's Black cowboys with barrel racing, steer wrestling, bull riding and more. Alayna Alvarez, Axios, 9 Jan. 2025 Will Rogers State Historic Park, where the famous movie cowboy once had a sprawling ranch overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Santa Monica, was closed to the public. Phaedra Trethan, USA TODAY, 9 Jan. 2025 Watch on Deadline Dusty is a quiet guy and O’Connor, probably not a casting director’s idea of a cowboy, really manages to show us who this young man is, often with just his forlorn facial expressions rather than the limited dialogue he is given in many scenes. Pete Hammond, Deadline, 26 Jan. 2025 The Will Rodgers Foundation announced last week that the Palisades Fire claimed both historic homes of the famed cowboy actor and member of the Cherokee Nation. Russell Contreras, Axios, 14 Jan. 2025 See all Example Sentences for cowboy 
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cowboy
Noun
  • Younger kids can choose from a selection of small plates portioned for cowpokes.
    Outside Online, Outside Online, 17 July 2024
  • His fictional protagonists have included ornery cowpokes and professors of esoterica.
    The New Yorker, The New Yorker, 12 June 2024
Noun
  • The term Cowboy became widely popular for the trade and subsequently was whitewashed to then exclude Black cowhands from the history books.
    Stephanie Tharpe, Forbes, 25 Dec. 2024
  • Houston is also home to the rodeo, the country’s oldest Black trail ride, and Black cowboy culture — in 1800s Texas, one in four cowhands were Black.
    Maria Sherman, Fortune, 29 Mar. 2024
Noun
  • The Supreme Court had already decided that yes, indeed, Texas — which spent a hundred million buckaroos a year on California produce — could throw up its own quarantine on Golden State goods.
    Patt Morrison, Los Angeles Times, 15 Oct. 2024
  • The group disqualifies him, however, after researchers discover his buckaroo abilities are limited to wearing expensive Stetson hats and tripping on his lasso.
    Gustavo ArellanoColumnist, Los Angeles Times, 28 Dec. 2022
Noun
  • Bella Hadid has returned from playing the starring role in Rodeo and Juliet–a sort of real-life rom-com where an international supermodel falls in love with a simple Texan cowman and realizes there is a life beyond New York, London, Paris and Milan–and is (more importantly) back in capri pants.
    Daniel Rodgers, Vogue, 2 May 2024
  • McGuinn’s handshake indicated that, indeed, the farmer and the cowman, or the country traditionalist and the Byrd-man, could be friends.
    Chris Willman, Variety, 16 Jan. 2022
Noun
  • Read more When wolves kill livestock, should Colorado grant ranchers anonymity for compensation claims?
    The Denver Post, The Denver Post, 8 Feb. 2025
  • For example, the USAID Food for Peace Program, which provides emergency food assistance around the world, purchased 1.1 million metric tons of food from U.S. farmers and ranchers in fiscal year 2023.
    Avery Lotz, Axios, 5 Feb. 2025
Noun
  • At the same time, Burgum is himself an avid horseman, hunter, skier, and hiker and has been a booster of outdoor recreation in North Dakota, creating the state’s Office of Outdoor Recreation and allocating $1.2 million in grants for trail building.
    Frederick Reimers, Outside Online, 27 Jan. 2025
  • The heir apparent was his older brother Bassel—a military commander and an accomplished horseman whom the regime’s loyalists sometimes referred to as the Golden Knight.
    Jon Lee Anderson, The New Yorker, 27 Jan. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Cowboy.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cowboy. Accessed 22 Feb. 2025.

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