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 3-year-old female gray wolf when it was collared in 2025. —Dean Fioresi, CBS News, 8 Feb. 2026

Because the state’s gray wolf population remains federally protected, USFWS is leading the investigation into the wolf’s death. —Kris Millgate, Outdoor Life, 22 Jan. 2026

In 2011, California confirmed the existence of a wild gray wolf in the state for the first time in nearly 90 years after the native species had been considered locally extinct. —Camila Pedrosa, Sacbee.com, 14 Jan. 2026

The Nez Perce Tribe has led other species restoration efforts in Idaho, including spearheading gray wolf reintroduction in the 1990s. —Nicole Blanchard, Idaho Statesman, 12 Dec. 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