wildcat
Americannoun
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wildcats,
plural
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wildcat
plural
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any of several North American felines of the genus Lynx.
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a yellowish-gray, black-striped feline, Felis sylvestris, of Europe, western Asia, and northern Africa, resembling and closely related to the domestic cat, with which it interbreeds freely.
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a closely related feline, Felis sylvestris libyca, of northern Africa, believed to be the ancestor of the domestic cat.
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any of several other of the smaller felines, as the serval or ocelot.
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a domestic cat that has become feral.
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a quick-tempered or savage person.
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Railroads. a single locomotive operating without a train, as one switching cars.
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an exploratory well drilled in an effort to discover deposits of oil or gas; a prospect well.
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a reckless or unsound enterprise, business, etc.
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Informal. wildcatter.
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Nautical. a shaped drum on a windlass, engaging with the links of an anchor chain.
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Informal. wildcat strike.
adjective
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characterized by or proceeding from reckless or unsafe business methods.
wildcat companies; wildcat stocks.
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of or relating to an illicit enterprise or product.
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running without control or regulation, as a locomotive, or apart from the regular schedule, as a train.
verb (used without object)
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wildcats,
present (3rd person singular)
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wildcatted,
past participle, past
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wildcatting
present participle
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to search an area of unknown or doubtful productivity for oil, ore, or the like, especially as an independent prospector.
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Slang. to engage in a wildcat strike.
verb (used with object)
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wildcats,
present (3rd person singular)
-
wildcatted,
past participle, past
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wildcatting
present participle
noun
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a wild European cat, Felis silvestris, that resembles the domestic tabby but is larger and has a bushy tail
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any of various other felines, esp of the genus Lynx, such as the lynx and the caracal
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another name for bobcat
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informal a savage or aggressive person
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an exploratory drilling for petroleum or natural gas
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an unsound commercial enterprise
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Also called (in Britain and certain other countries): light engine. a railway locomotive in motion without drawing any carriages or wagons
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(modifier)
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of or relating to an unsound business enterprise
wildcat stock
-
financially or commercially unsound
a wildcat project
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(modifier) (of a train) running without permission or outside the timetable
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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wildcatsimple
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wildcatssimple
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have wildcattedperfect
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has wildcattedperfect
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am wildcattingprogressive
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are wildcattingprogressive
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is wildcattingprogressive
-
have been wildcattingperfect progressive
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has been wildcattingperfect progressive
Past
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wildcattedsimple
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had wildcattedperfect
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was wildcattingprogressive
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were wildcattingprogressive
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had been wildcattingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of wildcat
1375–1425; late Middle English wilde cat; compare Middle Low German wildkatte
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:
Nineteenth-century wildcat notes circulated in an era when collateral requirements, where they existed at all, were routinely evaded and unenforceable.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 2, 2026
Indigenous chief Bepdjo Mekragnotire is once again preparing to lead a group of warriors to chase wildcat gold miners away from his people's territory in Brazil's Amazon rainforest.
From Barron's ● May 29, 2026
To better understand how evolution shaped these sounds, the researchers compared domestic cat meows with those of five wild cat species: African wildcat, European wildcat, jungle cat, cheetah, and cougar.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 11, 2026
In his absence, longtime Palos Verdes coach Guy Gardner tossed aside the passing game almost entirely and trusted a wildcat offense to keep the Sea Kings in it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 29, 2025
I can hear the buzz of insects, the calling of a wildcat or wolf, and sometimes the voice of a person, a man or a woman calling out a name or yelling at their children.
From "The Night Diary" by Veera Hiranandani
Employees routinely took newborn kangaroos, wildcats and goats home overnight to provide round-the-clock feeding.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 2, 2026
The Ark Wildlife Park, near Boston, Lincolnshire has 232 animals in its care including meerkats, crocodiles, snakes and wildcats.
From BBC ● Feb. 26, 2026
He added that there needed to be wider consultation with farmers and landowners about the best areas to reintroduce the wildcats.
From BBC ● Nov. 18, 2025
"That's reached such a point where pure Scottish wildcats were virtually extinct and there's really been action to bring those animals back. These are one of our mega charismatic animals," she added.
From BBC ● Feb. 3, 2025
Clad in armor, he leaned casually on an impressive sword, while behind him foxes, wildcats and vermin fled in terror.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
Meanwhile, he struck oil, wildcatted himself into more millions than he could count.
From Time Magazine Archive
Besides practicing law, he wildcatted for oil with moderate success.
From Time Magazine Archive
On the other is Marvin Davis, 59, son of a New York dress manufacturer who wildcatted an oil fortune in the Rocky Mountains.
From Time Magazine Archive
Benedum discovered the famous De Mares Pool in Colombia on which International Petroleum fattened and wildcatted in Rumania's Ploesti field at Queen Marie's personal invitation.
From Time Magazine Archive
With dollars accumulated from purchase and sale of oil leases during boom years around 1906, he "wildcatted."
From Time Magazine Archive
Most of the publicly available geothermal data was collected when oil-and-gas companies were wildcatting across the West between 1960 and 1980.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 21, 2026
He immigrated to California in his mid-20s and pursued several ventures, including wildcatting for oil in the hills of Coalinga, a Fresno County town.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 3, 2023
But others were wildcatting operations that processed and burned waste left over from recycling without regard to human health or the environment.
From Slate ● Mar. 28, 2020
Go far enough back in baseball’s history – into the game’s actual disreputable, exploitive, wildcatting past, not the shelf-stable official one – and the same story repeats itself one generation after another.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 23, 2017
They cool the reactant fuel to keep it from getting too hot and wildcatting.
From Treachery in Outer Space by Louis Glanzman
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.
