panther
noun
Simple meaning
Any of different big cats with black fur.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
pantherSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈpænθɚ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
Any of various big cats with black fur; most especially, the black-coated leopard of Africa and Asia.
A cougar; especially the Florida panther.
Large American feline resembling a lion
us
A member of the Black Panther Party, White Panther Party or Gray Panthers.
A large spotted feline of tropical America similar to the leopard; in some classifications considered a member of the genus Felis
mythologyheraldry
A creature resembling a big cat, typically incensed ("emitting fire"), and often having a multicolored hide, found in Ancient Greek mythology and in medieval and later heraldry (in which its depiction sometimes approaches that of a horse).
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Any of various big cats with black fur; most especially, the black-coated leopard of Africa and Asia.
Used this way, panther is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- catamount , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use panther
- “A black panther moved silently through the dense jungle.”
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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: any of various big cats with black fur
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.