pounce

¹ American  

[pauns] / paʊns /

verb (used without object)

pounced, pouncing

1. to swoop down suddenly and grasp, as a bird does in seizing its prey.

2. to spring, dash, or come suddenly.

   Unexpectedly she pounced on the right answer.

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verb (used with object)

pounced, pouncing

1. to seize (prey) suddenly.

   The bird quickly pounced its prey.

noun

1. the claw or talon of a bird of prey.

2. a sudden swoop, as on an object of prey.

   Synonyms:

   spring, lunge, leap

pounce ² American  

[pauns] / paʊns /

verb (used with object)

pounced, pouncing

1. to emboss (metal) by hammering on an instrument applied on the reverse side.

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pounce ³ American  

[pauns] / paʊns /

noun

1. a fine powder, as of cuttlebone, formerly used to prevent ink from spreading in writing, or to prepare parchment for writing.

2. a fine powder, often of charcoal, used in transferring a design through a perforated pattern.

3. Also called pounce box, pounce bag. a small bag filled with pounce and struck against a perforated design.

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verb (used with object)

pounced, pouncing

1. to sprinkle, smooth, or prepare with pounce.

2. to trace (a design) with pounce.

3. to finish the surface of (hats) by rubbing with sandpaper or the like.

pounce ¹ British  

/ paʊns /

noun

1. a very fine resinous powder, esp of cuttlefish bone, formerly used to dry ink or sprinkled over parchment or unsized writing paper to stop the ink from running

2. a fine powder, esp of charcoal, that is tapped through perforations in paper corresponding to the main lines of a design in order to transfer the design to another surface

3. ( as modifier )

   a pounce box

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verb

1. to dust (paper) with pounce

2. to transfer (a design) by means of pounce

pounce ² British  

/ paʊns /

verb

1. (intr; often foll by on or upon) to spring or swoop, as in capturing prey

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noun

1. the act of pouncing; a spring or swoop

2. the claw of a bird of prey

pounce ³ British  

/ paʊns /

verb

1. (tr) to emboss (metal) by hammering from the reverse side

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Other Word Forms

• pouncer
  noun
• pouncingly
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of pounce¹

First recorded in 1375–1425 pounce ¹ ( for def. 4 ); late Middle English; perhaps akin to punch ¹

Origin of pounce²

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English pounsen, pounson, punchen, perhaps identical with pounce ¹

Origin of pounce³

First recorded in 1700–10; from French ponce, ultimately from Latin pūmic-, stem of pūmex pumice

Explanation

To pounce is to attack suddenly by leaping onto your prey. A tiger will slowly sneak up on its prey and then suddenly pounce, using speed as much as strength to make the kill. Of all the animals, cats are the best at pouncing. Snakes strike. Elephants charge. But when an animal leaps onto its prey, that's pouncing. When we talk about how people pounce, however, we're usually talking more figuratively. When we say that a person pounced on another person, we mean that they attacked viciously without warning — usually giving the victim no time to defend themselves. Lawyers pounce on witnesses, for example. If you feel suddenly ganged-up on, you might feel pounced upon.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pounce pounced pouncing

There were familiar lapses in concentration defensively that gave Greece opportunities to pounce.

From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026

Conversely, if your year-end travel plans are set and you don’t want to be stuck with a red-eye through Atlanta, pounce when you see a palatable price and move on.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

The moment to pounce came as Netflix fell 50% from a June 2025 high of $134 — the shares dropped to $67 in mid-June.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 13, 2026

"Octopuses are like cats: they will sneak up on their prey and pounce, and they want to do so as fast as possible, so that they don't become preyed upon," Tse says.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 5, 2026

My backpack’s at the foot of the stairs, and the light from the room is enough to reveal no one waiting to pounce.

From "Saints and Misfits" by S.K. Ali

Green doubled his tally quickly after the restart, but Saints full-back James Pater pounced on Santiago Carreras' dropped ball to steal possession and sprint the distance to the line.

From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026

Tennessee’s flagship university paid $1.9 million to a professor it fired after Fox News pounced on her comments.

From Salon ● Aug. 25, 2026

A Wall Street Journal review of trading data shows how quickly some traders have pounced on the president’s online comments.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

But Ruiz pounced on the rebound and deflected a shot past defender Timothy Castagne and into the back of the net.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026

In a scene too terrible to tell, she pounced.

From "Secrets at Sea" by Richard Peck

The company has been monitoring social media for mentions of the Disney-YouTube TV stalemate and pouncing when anyone mentions DirecTV by answering questions and providing information.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 8, 2025

Torbjörn Törnqvist has just struck one of the deals of his lifetime, pouncing on the overseas operations of Lukoil soon after the Russian oil producer was hit with U.S. sanctions.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 3, 2025

Rublev cruised through the opening set before pouncing on Fearnley's serve at 4-5 to book his spot in the second round.

From Barron's ● Oct. 27, 2025

In a sweep-evading 8-2 win over the Padres at Petco Park on Sunday, the Dodgers got back to working better at-bats, manufacturing consistent baserunners, then pouncing on mistakes with their lineup’s trademark pop.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2025

He loved the snow: pouncing on it and tossing lumps of ice high in the air, then skidding to a halt to listen to lemmings and snowvoles burrowing under the surface.

From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver

Related Words

• leap