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

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Etymology

Origin of black bear

First recorded in 1735–45

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

black bear

Forest Service trailhead, and in summer you can see bison grazing near Spanish Creek, along with whitetail deer and occasionally a black bear or moose.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026

There is one final bit of irony: Cornell’s longtime unofficial mascot is Touchdown the Big Red Bear, a tradition dating to 1915, when the football team once adopted a live black bear.

From Salon ● Aug. 8, 2026

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

Police describe the black bear encounter as unusual.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2026

They were the tracks of a black bear.

From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin

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