Illustration of tiger
- tiger 1a
plural tigers
1
plural also tiger
a
: a large Asian carnivorous mammal (Panthera tigris) of the cat family having a usually tawny coat transversely striped with black
b
: any of several large wildcats (such as the jaguar or cougar)
c
: a domestic cat with striped pattern
d
Australia
: tasmanian tiger
2
a
: a fierce, daring, or aggressive person or quality
aroused the tiger in him
a tiger for work
b
: someone or something (such as a situation) that is formidable or impossible to control
how the tiger of inflation can be tamed—
J. A. Davenport
—often used in the phrases ride a tiger and have a tiger by the tail
J. A. Davenport3
British
: a groom in livery
tigerishly
adverb
tigerishness
noun
Examples of tiger in a Sentence
He was a tiger on the basketball court.
even the best defense can't keep that tiger from scoring
Recent Examples on the Web
Research on the Australian thylacine (Tasmanian tiger), driven to extinction less than a century ago, is ahead of schedule.
—Mike Snider, USA Today, 16 Apr. 2025
After all, what could the pattern of a tiger’s skin have to do with abstract mathematics?
—Manon Bischoff, Scientific American, 16 Apr. 2025
Along the way, various other species also breathed their last: woolly mammoths, Irish elk, dodos, carrier pigeons, Steller’s sea cows, great auks, thylacines (Tasmanian tigers).
—D. T. Max, New Yorker, 7 Apr. 2025
The sheriff’s office reportedly expressed concern over how the animals were being cared for, but Mitchell said his tigers are given water and fed regularly.
—Brian Niemietz, New York Daily News, 7 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for tiger
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Mike Snider, USA Today, 16 Apr. 2025
After all, what could the pattern of a tiger’s skin have to do with abstract mathematics?
—Manon Bischoff, Scientific American, 16 Apr. 2025
Along the way, various other species also breathed their last: woolly mammoths, Irish elk, dodos, carrier pigeons, Steller’s sea cows, great auks, thylacines (Tasmanian tigers).
—D. T. Max, New Yorker, 7 Apr. 2025
The sheriff’s office reportedly expressed concern over how the animals were being cared for, but Mitchell said his tigers are given water and fed regularly.
—Brian Niemietz, New York Daily News, 7 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for tiger
Cite this Entry
“Tiger.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tiger. Accessed 4 May. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
tiger
noun
ti·ger
ˈtī-gər 
plural tigers also tiger
1
: a large Asian flesh-eating mammal of the same family as the domestic cat with a coat that is typically light brown to orange with mostly vertical black stripes
2
: any of several large wildcats (as the jaguar or cougar)
3
: a domestic cat with a striped coat
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