jaguar
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of jaguar
1595–1605; < Portuguese < Tupi jaguara
Compare meaning
How does jaguar compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
One of your pet cat's many wild relatives is the jaguar, a large, spotted animal that's found in North, Central, and South America. The jaguar is so fast that a famously fancy car is named after it. The jaguar, third-largest of all the cats, looks like a bigger, stronger version of a leopard. They were once common in the western part of the United States, but have nearly been eradicated there and verge on being endangered worldwide. The word jaguar is Portuguese in origin, from the Tupi jaguara, which is a general term for any large, predatory animal.
Vocabulary lists containing jaguar
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:
Others take a more menacing tone, like a jaguar facing off with a dog in a snowy backyard.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 2, 2026
The armor for this Batman took inspiration from Aztec eagle warriors and jaguar warriors, and integrated elements referencing the god Tzinacan.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2025
"The jaguar and the caybara were so curious. They didn't run."
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2024
The animals, he remarked, “were very tame,” which he attributed to “the jaguar having been banished for some years.”
From Salon ● Sep. 7, 2024
Here he pointed to midsky and the stars outlining the jaguar ready to pounce.
From "The Ugly One" by Leanne Statland Ellis
There, they don’t have to worry about their natural predators, like jaguars and anacondas.
From Slate ● May 27, 2026
“She was born under a full moon in the arms of mother nature. The jaguars taught her to run, the birds to fly,” her intro video intoned.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 13, 2026
With them go their predators, the jaguars, ocelots and—yes—anacondas.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 29, 2026
This region shelters not only migratory songbirds but also jaguars, tapirs, and scarlet macaws.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 22, 2025
Brilliantly painted red and gold animal dens line two of the four walls, their sides propped open to reveal lions, tigers, panthers, jaguars, bears, chimps, and spider monkeys—even an orangutan.
From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
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.
