panther
noun
the cougar or puma, Felis concolor.
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panther
1 American
[pan-ther]
/ ˈpæn θər /
noun
-
panthers,
plural
-
panther
plural
-
the cougar or puma, Felis concolor.
-
the leopard, Panthera pardus.
-
any leopard in the black color phase.
-
a very fierce person.
-
Military. Panther, a 43-ton (39-metric ton) German tank of World War II with a 75 mm gun as its main armament.
adjective
Panther
2
American
[pan-ther]
/ ˈpæn θər /
noun
panther
British
/ ˈpænθə /
noun
-
another name for the leopard, esp the black variety, which is known as the black panther
-
any of various related animals, esp the puma
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of panther1
First recorded before 1000; from Latin panthēra, from Greek pánthēr; replacing Middle English pantere (from Old French, from Latin ) and Old English pandher (from Latin )
Origin of Panther2
First recorded in 1965–70
Explanation
A panther is a large, black leopard. Panthers are related to the kitty purring in your lap, but they're ten times bigger. When most people think of a panther, they picture a black panther, which is really a leopard with an all-black coat. Strictly speaking, a panther can also be a puma, which is a brown cat that's similar in size to a jaguar. Panther is a Greek word meaning "leopard," and it became commonly (and confusingly) applied to both pumas and cougars in the 18th century.
Vocabulary lists containing panther
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.
See Examples For:
It featured a female panther resting its paws on a severed head, and was probably attached to the body of a carriage or wagon or to the yoke, which hitched draught animals to the vehicle.
From BBC ● Jan. 20, 2026
The bathrooms are decorated with faux marble, and the image of a black panther with a yellow eye fixed on customers as they freshen up.
From Barron's ● Dec. 22, 2025
But beneath Sophie’s polished facade lurks a yearning for danger symbolized by the panther tattoo on her thigh.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 24, 2025
In one of the fall’s most delightful picture books, a sad black panther feels unseen and unloved because he is so plain next to his big cat cousins’ stripes and spots.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 25, 2024
It was not really Edna Finch’s ice cream that made them brave the stretch of those panther eyes.
From "Sula" by Toni Morrison
“You don’t see Black Panther giving up his power.”
From Salon ● Oct. 18, 2026
The Black Panther Party mounted its own education campaign, “part of which was to undermine any trust the Black community might have in a program designed by the white establishment,” Mr. Davies writes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
She’s since featured Care Bears, “Fern Gully” and the Pink Panther at events, and has plans for at least three more this year: a screening of “The Real Ghostbusters” cartoon at Dynasty Typewriter Oct.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026
US actor Chadwick Boseman, who died aged 43 in 2020, four years after a colon cancer diagnosis, played the character in the original Black Panther movie, two Avengers films and Captain America: Civil War.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
Afros today are rare, dashikis even rarer; Black Panther founder Bobby Seale is best known today for peddling a line of barbecue products.
From "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything" by Steven D. Levitt
Suraci and colleagues instead focused on the Olympic Peninsula, where mountain lions -- variously known as cougars, pumas or panthers -- have long been established.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
As for the red wolf, Mr. Moore writes that, in the 1930s in northeast Louisiana, a remnant tract of old-growth forest teemed with prowling panthers and massive alligators.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 29, 2026
Mountain lions, also called pumas, cougars, catamounts or panthers, can be found throughout North America, but now are mostly in 15 western states, according to the Mountain Lion Foundation.
From BBC ● Jan. 2, 2026
They’ve been told to buddy up when taking trips to the latrines because of “alligators and Florida panthers and venomous snakes and different types of creatures.”
From Salon ● Jul. 17, 2025
I stopped, unwilling to make my first foray into filial disobedience w'ith one who faced her Maker—but could not refrain from saying, “I ask you not to tell me children’s tales of panthers pulling chariots.”
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson
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