polar bear
37
1.1
- noun
- /ˈpoʊlər bɛr/
- US
:
oso polar
- Every few years, a polar bear has her cubs here.
- seals and polar bears
- provide habitat for polar bears
- a polar bear hunt
And he started telling me he's going here to tag polar bears.
- And he started telling me he's going here to tag polar bears.
- Have you ever seen the width of the paws of a polar bear?
- And so polar bears will get them.
- Walruses can't actually leap, but they plummeted to their death because a pack of polar bears was going to eat them.
- And I said, wait, animals and plants fit their environment, meaning you don't find roses in the Arctic and you don't find polar bears in Africa.
- They see the polar bears, They are drowning.
Examples
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On average, it takes 43 ringed seals a year to feed one polar bear, according to Stirling.
Academic text (2012) -
A big favorite is the polar bear exhibit with a 266,000-gallon pool with underwater viewing windows.
Academic text (1997) -
The, uh, polar bear is her favorite animal.
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The answer may signal the last days of the polar bear.
Academic text (2012) -
Oh, look at this, the large polar bear in search of a meal of any kind.
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What does the loss of ice mean for the polar bear and other wildlife?
Academic text (2000) -
Did you see any polar bears?
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In a photo sent around the world, a polar bear is pictured alone on an ice floe.
Academic text (2012) -
We also need to worry about the polar bears themselves just fading away.
Academic text (2012) -
In a photo sent around the world, a polar bear is pictured alone on an ice floe.
Synonyms
A large white bear that lives in the Arctic and hunts seals
A large white bear that lives in the Arctic and hunts on sea ice
A large white bear that lives in the Arctic and hunts on sea ice
A scientific name once used for polar bears now usually included in Ursus
How Big
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a large bear from the polar regions' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'polar' (relating to the Arctic/Antarctic or very cold zones) with 'bear' (a large mammal). This is a straightforward descriptive compound found across languages and follows normal English adjective + noun composition, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Polar bear comes from the word polar, meaning 'of the pole', and bear, the animal. Imagine a big white bear on the North Pole walking on sea ice to hunt seals, so the name fits an animal that lives in the cold Arctic and depends on ice to hunt.