cheetah
Americannoun
-
cheetahs
plural
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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New research led by scientists at the University of California, Santa Cruz, is reshaping what is known about Miracinonyx trumani, the extinct North American predator commonly called the American cheetah.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 8, 2026
Evidence from nuclear paleogenomes and stable isotopes shows that the animal was not actually a cheetah.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 8, 2026
Whang wore a cheetah print blazer, and Doyle wore a wide-brimmed black hat — they both had on gold and red eye makeup.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026
When Basma, the zoo’s lead cheetah trainer, decides that Chase and Finn would make an excellent pair, Finn is skeptical.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026
The princes’ efforts to breed cheetahs in captivity failed, and not until 1960 did even biologists in modern zoos achieve their first successful cheetah birth.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Although their proportions resembled those of modern cheetahs, growing evidence suggests these cats were much more versatile hunters, able to chase prey on land while also using powerful forelimbs to grab and hold it.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 8, 2026
The cat haven has been operating for 28 years and houses 39 different cat species, including cheetahs, bobcats, clouded leopards, cougars and snow leopards.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026
“He’s pretty certain cheetahs are a type of cat,” he muses before meeting Chase.
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
Robin gobbled down the chicken-and-rice goo so fast that she threw up most of it on my book about cheetahs.
From "Crenshaw" by Katherine Applegate
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.
