werewolf
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of werewolf
before 1000; Middle English werwolf, Old English werwulf, equivalent to wer man (cognate with Gothic wair, Latin vir ) + wulf wolf; cognate with Middle Dutch weerwolf, Old High German werwolf
Explanation
In European folklore, a werewolf is a man who turns into a dangerous animal at night. According to legend, the transformation of a werewolf is triggered by a full moon. Stories of werewolves have existed for thousands of years, but belief in werewolves became widespread in Europe during the Middle Ages. Today, these creatures are popular monsters that appear in books, movies, television, video games, and more. The were in werewolf comes from the Old English word wer, meaning "man."
Vocabulary lists containing werewolf
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:
There’s not even one shot of the moon that I can remember, and our first werewolf sighting takes place after dawn.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 15, 2025
Dead animals littered the side of the road; deer, raccoons, something that looked like a purple jackal, a Chupacabra or two, what looked like a werewolf, and at least one low-flying turkey vulture.
From Salon ● Oct. 24, 2024
Who knows if “Oh, Mary!” will be among the first of many reclamations of Mary Todd Lincoln as werewolf, mercenary or other genre trope.
From New York Times ● Feb. 7, 2024
The dangers of even one of them being a werewolf are so obvious they need not be expounded upon.
From Scientific American ● Oct. 27, 2023
“We resisted in any way we could,” said Klaus Messner, a sixteen-year-old werewolf.
From "Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
“I don’t want my kids to get the idea that they should be afraid of summer, but I also don’t want to have, like, cheesy surfing werewolves be a thing.”
From Salon ● Jun. 30, 2026
AI is essential for the popular romantasy genre where fantastical elements, from medieval castles to werewolves and fairies are common.
From BBC ● Feb. 27, 2026
But the agency did discover that a network of UFO believers within the Defense Department had created a program that investigated accounts of interdimensional creatures and werewolves on a ranch in Utah.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 22, 2026
If werewolves might mutate only once, he and the makeup and special-effects teams make it as painful as possible: loose teeth, shedding hair, roiling knuckles, flimsy fingernails.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 15, 2025
He hesitantly stepped off the edge of the lawn into the woods, half-expecting werewolves to leap out at him.
From "Fablehaven" by Brandon Mull
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.
