grizzly
Americannoun
-
a device for screening ore, consisting of a row of iron or steel bars.
adjective
noun
Usage
Grizzly is sometimes wrongly used where grisly is meant: a grisly (not grizzly ) murder
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of grizzly
Explanation
A grizzly is a large North American species of bear also known as a silvertip bear. When you go camping and hiking in the western United States, park rangers might teach you what to do if you see a grizzly. The grizzly bear's formal Latin name, Ursus arctos horribilis, came from confusion between grizzly and grisly, or "horrible." Grizzly bears are known for being solitary and having brown fur tipped in white or gray. The adjective grizzly probably arose from these "grizzled" or gray-colored hairs, since it describes appearing aged or old, especially because of graying hair.
Vocabulary lists containing grizzly
Name On: Pro Sports Team Names, Part 1
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Commonly Confused Words, List 3
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Commonly Confused Words, List 5
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
In an accompanying statement, the groups argued the rule changes could immediately harm wildlife including Florida manatees, grizzly bears, salmon and steelhead fish, bird species like rufa red knots and golden-cheeked warblers, and insect pollinators.
From Barron's ● Jul. 14, 2026
“There was a larger grizzly maybe 10 feet above me,” Crago said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 7, 2026
The huge question now is whether that changes when the Labour Party confronts the likely grizzly reality of the electorate's verdict early next month.
From BBC ● Apr. 24, 2026
Within a few weeks, her collar showed she had traveled 90 miles, a grizzly commute across four freeways and into the Santa Monica Mountains above Malibu where bears had rarely been seen.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 17, 2025
With a grizzly, you should make for a tall tree, since grizzlies aren’t much for climbing.
From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
Assuming bears couldn’t live outside the designated regions, the study estimates that California could house around 1,183 grizzlies: 115 in the Transverse Ranges, 832 in the Sierra Nevada, and 236 in the Northwest Forest.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 15, 2025
Peter Tira, a spokesperson for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, said the state lacks the resources and wouldn’t be able to prioritize reintroducing grizzlies, given all its existing responsibilities.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 15, 2025
For 11 games in a row now, Scotland have been salmon leaping and Ireland have been the grizzlies waiting at falls-edge to gobble them up.
From BBC ● Feb. 10, 2025
Another specious reason for disrupting the grizzlies is their proclivity for distributing native plant seeds.
From Seattle Times ● May 17, 2024
If they would behave themselves in captivity, grizzlies would be a fabulous meat production animal.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Promotional artwork for season five seems to show a grizzlier Rick than we’ve seen before and, thus, probably some payout on the cliff hanger ending.
From Time ● Oct. 10, 2014
The bears ground the eagles with a swipe of the paw, and it only gets grizzlier from there.
From Slate ● Mar. 23, 2012
They hold to a notion of the individual that the grizzliest fur trapper west of the Missouri River 170 years ago would have found extreme.
From Salon ● May 26, 2013
Mated with the game's irresistible sweetness, the outcome is a game-world which is truly universal in its appeal – the youngest children and grizzliest hardcore gamers alike will be held equally rapt by its charms.
From The Guardian ● May 27, 2010
And when my father was a young man, somewhere up north of Sacramento, in a creek called Cache Slough, the tules was full of grizzliest He used to go in an' shoot 'em.
From The Valley of the Moon by London, Jack
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.
