jaguar
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of jaguar
1595–1605; < Portuguese < Tupi jaguara
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Explanation
One of your pet cat's many wild relatives is the jaguar, a large, spotted animal that's found in North, Central, and South America. The jaguar is so fast that a famously fancy car is named after it. The jaguar, third-largest of all the cats, looks like a bigger, stronger version of a leopard. They were once common in the western part of the United States, but have nearly been eradicated there and verge on being endangered worldwide. The word jaguar is Portuguese in origin, from the Tupi jaguara, which is a general term for any large, predatory animal.
Vocabulary lists containing jaguar
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.
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Catwoman appears here as a jaguar warrior, since there were no domestic cats at that point in history in the Americas.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2025
Owning a jaguar in Texas is legal, but it’s not legal to sell an endangered species out of state.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2025
Rico, who lives with Tina, a female two-toed sloth, in the zoo's jaguar house, has been regularly monitored since the surgery.
From BBC ● Apr. 17, 2025
Lundberg and his diver companion had found fossils in the same place before, including mammoth teeth, bones of an ancient jaguar and parts of a dire wolf.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 6, 2024
A jaguar was a long shot, but Tam Lin had seen them.
From "The House of the Scorpion" by Nancy Farmer
“She was born under a full moon in the arms of mother nature. The jaguars taught her to run, the birds to fly,” her intro video intoned.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 13, 2026
With them go their predators, the jaguars, ocelots and—yes—anacondas.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 29, 2026
This region shelters not only migratory songbirds but also jaguars, tapirs, and scarlet macaws.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 22, 2025
For decades these animals – lions, tigers, pumas, cheetahs and jaguars – have been a sign of power, status and even political fealty in the country.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2025
There was a heavy feeling in the air, and I noticed dark clouds hovering above like angry jaguars waiting to pounce.
From "The Ugly One" by Leanne Statland Ellis
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.
