black bear

American  

noun

black bears plural

1. a medium-sized North American bear, Ursus (Euarctos ) americanus, relatively common in uninhabited mountainous areas, ranging from light brown to black with a straight brown muzzle: northern populations may be gray to near-white.

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black bear British  

noun

1. a bear, Euarctos (or Ursus ) americanus , inhabiting forests of North America. It is smaller and less ferocious than the brown bear

2. a bear, Selenarctos thibetanus , of central and E Asia, whose coat is black with a pale V-shaped mark on the chest

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• black bears
  plural

Etymology

Origin of black bear

First recorded in 1735–45

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

black bear

A man was startled to find a black bear in the front seat of a pickup truck in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026

Japanese authorities have sedated and captured a black bear, days after it was spotted roaming around a city near Tokyo.

From BBC ● Jun. 9, 2026

The famous toy bear Winnie took its name from a black bear in London Zoo, that was particularly popular with children, including the son of AA Milne.

From BBC ● Apr. 25, 2026

A 550-pound male black bear wedged itself into the crawl space underneath an Altadena home just after Thanksgiving.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 13, 2026

If I were to be pawed and chewed—and this seemed to me entirely possible, the more I read—it would be by a black bear, Ursus americanus.

From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson