tiger

noun

ti·​ger ˈtī-gər 

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

3

British : a groom in livery

tigerish

ˈtī-g(ə-)rish 

adjective

tigerishly adverb

tigerishness noun

tigerlike

ˈtī-gər-ˌlīk 

adjective

Illustration of tiger

• tiger 1a

Synonyms

• barracuda
• fire-breather
• fire-eater
• pit bull

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

Colossal has made headlines pursuing the de-extinction of the woolly mammoth, the Tasmanian tiger, and the dodo. —Allie Garfinkle, Fortune, 11 Apr. 2024

Guests can order food and drinks — everything from tiger prawn Thai salad and carbonara pasta to Champagne and inventive mocktails. —Susmita Baral, Travel + Leisure, 29 Mar. 2024

Photographer has some of that traditional NatGeo style, but instead of tigers or marsupials the camera is trained on the photographers themselves. —Anna Goldwater Alexander, WIRED, 18 Mar. 2024

Hiding alongside the roaring lions and tigers at the Detroit Zoo in Royal Oak are more than 40 pokestops and various gyms to host competitions with friends. —Detroit Free Press, 1 Mar. 2024

The tiger snakes of Perth have heavy metals in their livers. —Rafil Kroll-Zaidi, Harper's Magazine, 27 Mar. 2024

Aggravating factors include fishing, pollution and habitat loss, on top of the species' unusually infrequent and low-yielding breeding patterns – sand tigers don't breed annually, and only bear up to two pups at a time. —Kyle Schmidbauer, Fox News, 26 Mar. 2024

Only the Sumatran tiger remains, and it is considered endangered. —Reuters, NBC News, 26 Mar. 2024

Jamie Hawkesworth / Courtesy of The Row The ole’ ball and chain at Alexander McQueen Courtesy of Alexander McQueen A little bejeweled tiger at Luar. —Laia Garcia-Furtado, Vogue, 6 Mar. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English tigre, from Old English tiger & Anglo-French tigre, both from Latin tigris, from Greek, probably of Iranian origin; akin to Avestan tighra- pointed; akin to Greek stizein to tattoo — more at stick

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Phrases Containing tiger

• paper tiger
• tiger cat
• Amur tiger
• blind tiger
• Asian tiger mosquito
• tiger mosquito
• tiger maple
• tiger lily
• tiger moth
• tiger's-eye
• tiger swallowtail
• tiger shark
• Siberian tiger
• tiger beetle
• Bengal tiger
• Tasmanian tiger
• tiger salamander
• false saber-toothed tiger
• saber-tooth tiger
• tiger shrimp
• saber-toothed tiger

Kids 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