Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🐻 A North American bear 🐻 An Asian bear
black bear

black bear

11 1.0
A medium-sized wild animal in North America with black or dark brown fur
  • noun
  • /blæk bɛr/
  • US
: oso negro
  • Nearly 20,000 black bears live in Minnesota, a top location in the United States for the bears.
  • wild black bears
  • black bears live
  • see wild black bears

I mean, I'm in the Boone and Crockett record book for shooting one of the biggest black bears in this in North America.

Examples

  • While hiking in the forest, we spotted a black bear rummaging through the bushes.

  • It's considered the best place in the world to see wild black bears.

    Academic text (2011)

  • The black bear shown here was photographed in the southeast section of the park.

    Academic text (2009)

  • Recently, a group of scientists teamed up to investigate those seasonal differences by studying wild black bears in northern Minnesota.

    Academic text (2011)

  • One can find black bears, moose, beavers, and white-tailed deer, as well as hundreds of migrating birds.

    Academic text (2007)

  • The park ranger explained how to safely observe a black bear from a distance.

  • During our camping trip, we heard the sound of a black bear wandering near our tent at night.

Synonyms

bear
vsblack bear
957 1.0

A large heavy animal with thick fur and strong claws

denotes the specific medium-sized North American species, not the whole family
American black bear
vsblack bear
  • Specialized
1 3.4

A medium-sized North American bear usually with black or dark brown fur and less aggressive than brown bears

is the shorter everyday name used in general speech
Ursus americanus
vsblack bear
  • Specialized
7.2

A medium-sized North American bear that is usually black or brown and not very aggressive

is the everyday name rather than a scientific label
Euarctos americanus
vsblack bear
  • Specialized
9.7

A medium-sized bear that lives in forests in North America, usually black or brown

is the common everyday name, not a scientific alternative

How Big

Kodiak bear
  • US
1 5.5
polar bear
  • US
37 1.1
brown bear
6 1.9
black bear
  • US
11 1.0
bearcat
4 9.9

Surface Forms

black bear singular
black bears plural

Morphology

black + bear

This is a straightforward adjective + noun composition: 'black' (color) modifies 'bear' (animal), so the phrase denotes a bear that is black. A B1 learner who knows both words will readily derive this meaning, even if in some contexts it refers to a particular species or population.

Etymology

Black bear was named for its dark fur: the word black describes the color and bear is the animal. So it means 'a medium-sized North American bear often with black or dark brown fur'.