cheetah
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of cheetah
1695–1705; < Hindi cītā < Sanskrit citraka leopard; compare Pali cittaka, Prakrit cittaya
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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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One of the pieces in the exhibition is an A-line shag mini dress in cheetah print that Saar made for herself in 1969, and has been passed through the hands of her daughters and granddaughters.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 7, 2026
A story for young readers about a rescue dog and a young cheetah is inspired by real-world zoo practices.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026
To better understand how evolution shaped these sounds, the researchers compared domestic cat meows with those of five wild cat species: African wildcat, European wildcat, jungle cat, cheetah, and cougar.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 11, 2026
"I want to show the world what Africa really is," Speed declared during his South Africa stop - where he went car-spinning, learned some amapiano dance moves and got scratched by a cheetah.
From BBC ● Jan. 17, 2026
He bought me a bag of popcorn, and we returned to the cheetah cage.
From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls
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If she can prove that cheetahs are worth saving, she thinks, she can help the cheetahs who are living in “the parched grassland she can only imagine. The place that would’ve been her home, too.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026
Similar cases involving cheetahs from Syria, a gorilla from Haiti, and bonobos from Iraq are among those questioned by CITES.
From Barron's ● Nov. 9, 2025
Many foreign and local tourists visit the reserve to see its wildlife, including lions, leopards and cheetahs.
From BBC ● May 1, 2024
For years, it seemed most people considered the animals unappealing and preferred seeing “real” predators like lions or cheetahs.
From National Geographic ● Feb. 8, 2024
As I already mentioned, tame cheetahs were prized by ancient Egyptians and Assyrians and modern Indians as hunting animals infinitely superior to dogs.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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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.