noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of puma
1770–80; < Spanish < Quechua
Explanation
A puma is a type of big cat that looks a bit like a lion. In fact, another name for a puma is a mountain lion. Puma, cougar, panther, and mountain lion are different names for the same animal, the Puma concolor. While pumas are quite a bit larger than your family cat (weighing as much as 200 pounds), they are still considered members of the "small cat" species, which include bobcats, lynx, and ocelots, among many others. Pumas are found from northern Canada to South America, the largest range of any land animal in the Americas.
Vocabulary lists containing puma
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:
The tragic ending of the young puma in San Dimas comes three months after a year-old female cougar and a 6-month-old male mountain lion were fatally struck by vehicles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
A puma named Muluk seemed sure that South Korea will triumph against the Czech Republic, and six giraffes hedged their bets with the Democratic Republic of Congo over Colombia.
From Barron's ● Jun. 6, 2026
In those cases, high levels of puma predation made the situation worse but were not the primary cause.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 8, 2026
Small puma populations have been isolated by the freeway, and their offspring were showing signs of birth defects.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 31, 2025
But the Song of the Family had become as fierce and sharp and feline as the snarl of a female puma.
From "The Pearl" by John Steinbeck
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
Despite cities’ trash, speeding cars, dogs, and humans, capybaras see plenty of upsides in urban riverside living: water, food, and shelter—plus no pumas, who have been known to eat young capybaras.
From Slate ● May 27, 2026
With few defenses against large carnivores, they became easy prey once pumas arrived.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 8, 2026
But just an hour outside Quito lies the Andean Chocó, a vast cloud forest teeming with exotic birds, pumas, ocelots and giant anteaters—and you no longer need to be an intrepid bushwhacker to enjoy it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 20, 2025
A number of predators — wolves, pumas, and coyotes — prevented the deer from outrunning their food supply.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
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.
