snow leopard

American  

noun

snow leopards plural

1. a long-haired, leopardlike feline, Panthera (Uncia ) uncia, of mountain ranges of central Asia, having a relatively small head and a thick, creamy-gray coat with rosette spots: an endangered species.

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snow leopard British  

noun

1. Also called: ounce.  a large feline mammal, Panthera uncia, of mountainous regions of central Asia, closely related to the leopard but having a long pale brown coat marked with black rosettes

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• snow leopards
  plural

Etymology

Origin of snow leopard

First recorded in 1865–70

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

snow leopard

The university team previously monitored snow leopard populations in Kazakhstan.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026

"Earlier, we thought the snow leopard was our enemy," says Dolma Zangmo, a local resident.

From BBC ● Feb. 5, 2026

So far this year, she has starred in the nearly billion-dollar-grossing blockbuster hit “A Minecraft Movie” and voiced a villainous snow leopard in “The Bad Guys 2.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2025

Here, researchers collected eDNA from tracks left by wild Alaskan polar bears and Swedish Eurasian lynx, as well as captive polar bears, lynx, and a snow leopard kept in wildlife parks in Sweden and Finland.

From Science Magazine ● Dec. 5, 2023

Pantalaimon was a snarling snow leopard, just like Lord Asriel’s daemon, but she didn’t see that; all she saw was right and wrong.

From "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman