grizzly bear

noun

Definition of grizzly bear

: a very large brown bear (Ursus arctos) of northwestern North America

Note: The grizzly bear is the same species as the brown bear, but grizzly bear is typically used for the North American brown bear and not the European or Asian brown bear. In the U.S., grizzly bear is most often used for a brown bear of inland habitats (as in Montana and western Canada) that is typically smaller than coastal brown bears and usually has lighter-colored tips on the fur. The grizzly bear is often considered a subspecies (Ursus arctos horribilis) of the brown bear and, especially formerly, a separate species (Ursus horribilis).

The brown bears of Kodiak Island, the grizzly bears of the Rocky Mountains and interior Alaska, the European brown bear, all are now considered to be the same species, Ursus arctos, despite tremendous variation in color, size, and habits. — Natural History

— called also grizzly

Examples of grizzly bear in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web At the bottom of the pole, clutching a sockeye, is a grizzly bear. — Carolyn Wells, Longreads, "The Hungry Bears," 10 Dec. 2020 The app is of great interest to the Knight Inlet Lodge in Glendale Cove, which has run grizzly bear tours for decades, and its current owner, the Nanwakolas member First Nations of Canada. — New York Times, "Training Facial Recognition on Some New Furry Friends: Bears," 11 Nov. 2020 Federal investigators allege the roadside zoo run by the Lowes has potentially 100 to 200 animals on exhibit, including some protected by the Endangered Species Act, such as tigers, lions, a grizzly bear and ring-tailed lemurs. — Clare Hymes, CBS News, "Feds sue "Tiger King Park" owners over "inadequate" care of endangered animals," 19 Nov. 2020 Rigby is a little grizzly bear of a pup — fat with lots of extra skin and large paws. — Anchorage Daily News, "A new canine addition to the family makes daily stresses melt away," 7 Nov. 2020 The author set out to kill an Alaskan grizzly bear with sticks and stone. — Tyler Freel, Outdoor Life, "Killing a Grizzly the Old-Fashioned Way: With a Longbow and a Stone-Point Arrowhead," 17 Nov. 2020 Austin Pfeiffer, 22, was killed Sunday by a grizzly bear in Wrangell-St. — Phil Helsel, NBC News, "Hunter killed by grizzly in Alaska identified, incident called 'surprise attack'," 25 Sep. 2020 Bear attacks are rare -- but if attacked by grizzly bear, the NPS recommends people play dead by laying flat on their stomachs with their legs spread out. — Leah Asmelash, CNN, "A grizzly bear mauled and killed a hunter in a first-of-its-kind attack at a national park in Alaska," 23 Sep. 2020 But the decision touched on, not armed protesters, but whether Americans should be able, as Justice Anthony Kennedy mused, to fight off a grizzly bear. — Noah Robertson, The Christian Science Monitor, "Armed protesters in America create stress test for police," 22 Sep. 2020

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'grizzly bear.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.