COUGAR Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com (original) (raw)

noun

plural

cougars,

plural

cougar

Also called mountain lion, panther, puma. a large, tawny cat, Felis concolor, of North and South America: now greatly reduced in number and endangered in some areas.
Informal. an older woman who seeks sexual relationships with much younger men.

He's in his twenties, but he prefers cougars in their forties and fifties to young women his own age.

cougar British

/ ˈkuːɡə /

noun

another name for puma
slang a woman in her 30s or 40s who actively pursues casual sexual relationships with young men

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of cougar

First recorded in 1765–75; from French couguar, from New Latin cuguacu ara, cuguacuarana, apparently a misrepresentation of either Guarani guaçu ara or Portuguese çuçuarana, suçuarana (from Tupi susuarana )

Explanation

A cougar is a type of large cat — male cougars can reach eight feet long. You may have seen a cougar in a nature program about the animals of North and South America. A cougar is a feline, but these cats are not tame house pets — they are dangerous wild animals. Found all the way from Canada to South America, cougars are also called pumas, mountain lions, panthers, and catamounts. The word cougar is also a slang term for an older woman who dates much younger men. Even when it is meant to be a compliment, like any stereotype, cougar has the potential to offend — best to avoid.

Keep Reading on Vocabulary.com

Vocabulary lists containing cougar

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

And a cougar attacks in a very different way than a bear does.

FromLos Angeles Times • Mar. 6, 2026

Between 2016-24, researchers recorded 12 adult cougar deaths, two of which were caused by wolves.

FromScience Daily • Mar. 3, 2026

“It was so strong,” McVay said of the cougar.

FromLos Angeles Times • Feb. 25, 2026

To better understand how evolution shaped these sounds, the researchers compared domestic cat meows with those of five wild cat species: African wildcat, European wildcat, jungle cat, cheetah, and cougar.

FromScience Daily • Feb. 11, 2026

In the old Alamo games, Hester had often been a cougar or a wolf, and once or twice a rattlesnake, but mostly a mockingbird.

From"The Subtle Knife" by Philip Pullman

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023