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.
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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’s a black panther, and it leads me to a place where I’m able to pray and meditate and calm my body down so I can be free.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 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
It was the screensaver of a black panther that first inspired the look of Toothless in the animated films.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 14, 2025
Fitak says he's encouraged by the findings reported in the study, and that he hopes the Florida panther population remains robust if chronic wasting disease becomes prevalent in Florida's deer herd.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 21, 2024
“Recall,” she would say to me, “that you are a prince”; and I began to doubt her reiterations and resent her impostures—the tales of orchid thrones and panther steeds.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
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
On “Me Against the World,” that came in the form of “Dear Mama,” an adoring tribute to his mother, the activist and former Black Panther Afeni Shakur.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
His mother, Mary Rodriguez, is excited that Aayden was just designated as gifted and that he will be a fourth-generation Pacoima Panther.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 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
Whenever we called them, Panther would come right away, but Fufi wouldn’t do anything.
From "Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood" by Trevor Noah
In the 20-minute gameplay sequence, Lara Croft -- still in her famous blue top and brown shorts -- explores an abandoned tomb in Greece, battling panthers and dodging giant swords falling from the ceiling.
From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 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
The panthers, elk, and timberwolves were being driven to extinction, the beaver and bear nearly so.
From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
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.
