gray wolf

noun

: a large, broad-headed, wide-muzzled wolf (Canis lupus) that has a dense, heavy coat of usually light brown or brownish gray interspersed with black above and yellowish white below and that was formerly widely distributed throughout North America and Eurasia but is now greatly restricted to the more northerly parts of its range

The only sizable gray wolf population south of Canada and Alaska continues to roam the forest-and-lake country of northern Minnesota.

—Vic Banks

Note: The gray wolf has been considered a threat to livestock and people for hundreds of years and has been wiped out from most of its original range by hunting, trapping, and poisoning.

called also timber wolf

Illustration of gray wolf

Examples of gray wolf in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife received two reports of a rare gray wolf sighting and photos of the carnivore in late August in an area where Mendocino, Glenn and Lake counties meet. — Queenie Wong, Los Angeles Times, 5 Sep. 2026

But these are early days for the gray wolf west of the interstate. — Darrell Smith, Sacbee.com, 4 Sep. 2026

The study provides compelling evidence that the thylacine was not simply a marsupial version of a gray wolf, said Love Dalén, professor of evolutionary genomics at Stockholm University in Sweden. — Ashley Strickland, CNN Money, 2 Sep. 2026

But the temperature variation between different gray wolf population groups is fairly similar. — Natalie Krebs, Outdoor Life, 11 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1595, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for gray wolf

• werewolf
• beowulf

Kids Definition

gray wolf

noun

: a large wolf of northern regions that is usually gray

called also timber wolf