leopard
Americannoun
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leopards
plural
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a large, spotted Asian or African carnivore, Panthera pardus, of the cat family, usually tawny with black markings; the Old World panther: all leopard populations are threatened or endangered.
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the fur or pelt of this animal.
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any of various related cats resembling this animal.
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Heraldry. a lion represented from the side as walking, usually with one forepaw raised, and looking toward the spectator.
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Numismatics.
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an Anglo-Gallic gold coin issued by Edward III, equal to half a florin, bearing the figure of a leopard.
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a silver Anglo-Gallic coin issued by Henry V.
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Military. Leopard, a 42-ton (38-metric ton) West German tank with a 105 mm gun.
noun
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Also called: panther. a large feline mammal, Panthera pardus, of forests of Africa and Asia, usually having a tawny yellow coat with black rosette-like spots
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any of several similar felines, such as the snow leopard and cheetah
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a feline, Neofelis nebulosa, of SE Asia and Indonesia with a yellowish-brown coat marked with darker spots and blotches
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heraldry a stylized leopard, painted as a lion with the face turned towards the front
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the pelt of a leopard
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of leopard
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English leopard, labarde, lebarde, from Old French leopard, lebard, leupard, from Late Latin leōpardus, from Greek leópardos, syncopated variant of leontópardos, equivalent to leonto- (stem of léōn ) + párdos; see origin at lion, pard 1
Explanation
A leopard is a large feline, a very distant relative of the sweet kitty purring on your lap. A member of the panther family, the leopard is extinct in some regions and considered vulnerable in others. Leopards look similar to jaguars; they both have distinctive rose-shaped markings that act as camouflage, though leopards are slightly smaller and lighter. In rare cases when a leopard's melanin makes it appear totally black, it's called a black panther. The name of this large cat comes from an ancient belief that it was half lion and half panther — the Greek root leopardos means "lion-panther."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Sylvia Phillips was discovered wrapped in a leopard print silk blanket, with yellow and pink roses placed on her body, as well as a birthday card signed from him and the family dog Tina.
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026
Tom Baker, 27, who spotted the cat last month, likened it to a "small leopard" when he saw it from a distance.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
The lemon frost morph originated from a spontaneous genetic mutation that appeared during selective breeding in a large colony of leopard geckos.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 15, 2026
The African leopard found across most of sub-Saharan Africa shows extraordinary variation in coat colour, body size and skull shape.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 24, 2026
And even then, who knows what a leopard would be thinking.
From "Everything Sad Is Untrue" by Daniel Nayeri
It follows four rival families of lions, leopards, hyenas and wild dogs as they compete for dominance, with all the shifting alliances, betrayals and power struggles of a prestige drama.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
Together, these genomic signals suggest that these leopards are small because they’ve adapted that way, and not only because of isolation or genetic drift.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 24, 2026
This is because they’ve been isolated from other leopards for a long time and have adapted to one region.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 24, 2026
Together with local leopard experts and evolutionary biologists, we collected muscle or skin tissue of the leopards and compared them with genomes of leopards from other parts of Africa.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 24, 2026
Lions, tigers, leopards and jaguars are different species within the genus Panthera.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
