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 biotech company has genetically altered three gray wolf puppies — named Romulus, Remus, and Khaleesi — that were born over the last year. —Emlyn Travis Published, EW.com, 9 July 2025

Wolves were essentially hunted out of existence in California in the 1920s, and when the first gray wolf migrated back in from Oregon in 2011, the state developed a management plan meant to protect the species and encourage its population to grow. —Sharon Bernstein, Sacbee.com, 11 June 2025

But Axel Hunnicutt, the gray wolf coordinator at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, cautions that the recovery of California’s wolf population is only occurring because they’re protected. —Jaclyn Cosgrove, Los Angeles Times, 5 June 2025

Long assumed to be extinct in the Golden State, a lone gray wolf crossed over the border from Oregon in 2011, and by 2015, a pack was identified in Northern California’s Siskiyou County, researchers noted. —Sharon Udasin, The Hill, 21 Apr. 2025

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