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:
Instead, it was a highly adaptable close relative of the puma, and populations living in the far north appear to have relied heavily on fish to survive in Arctic environments.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 8, 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
A SoCal hiker said she thankfully remembered what to do when she encountered the puma — yelling, facing the cat, trying to look big — until it ran off.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 13, 2026
But was the puma really to blame for the killings or an unwitting participant in an elaborate hoax, and why did big cat sightings continue after she was caught?
From BBC ● Dec. 28, 2024
I was makin’ up a litter in the monkey-house for a young puma which is ill; but when I heard the yelpin’ and ’owlin’ I kem away straight.
From "Dracula" by Bram Stoker
P-22 became the face of an international campaign to save Southern California’s threatened pumas when, in December 2022, he was captured by the National Park Service and the state’s wildlife department.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2026
"These cats were remarkably flexible, much like pumas are across their range today," said Molly Cassatt-Johnstone, a Ph.D. candidate in the Paleogenomics Lab at UC Santa Cruz and lead author of the study.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 8, 2026
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
A number of predators — wolves, pumas, and coyotes — prevented the deer from outrunning their food supply.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
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