grizzly bear

noun

1. a large North American brown bear, Ursus (arctos ) horribilis, with coarse, gray-tipped brown fur, once widespread in the western part of the continent as far south as northern Mexico but now restricted to some regions of Alaska, western Canada, and the U.S. Rocky Mountains: a threatened species except in Alaska.

grizzly bear

noun

1. Often shortened to: grizzly. a variety of the brown bear, Ursus arctos horribilis, formerly widespread in W North America; its brown fur has cream or white hair tips on the back, giving a grizzled appearance

Word History and Origins

Origin of grizzly bear¹

First recorded in 1685–95

Example Sentences

When the pair reached a small town that afternoon, his wife started screaming, and Ramsdell thought she spotted a grizzly bear.

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Even seeing a grizzly bear is pretty uncommon in the lower 48 states.

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Martinez, who weighs around 150 pounds, said the agents arresting him pointed to the colleague he was being accused of attacking, who looked “like a grizzly bear.”

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Reflecting on the genocide of Indigenous Californians and the coordinated extermination of grizzly bears, wolves and mountain lions, Salazar sees a clear parallel.

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Just a few years later, in the spring of 1924, California’s last known grizzly bear was spotted in Sequoia National Park.

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