black bear

1. 1.

   bear with a black coat living in central and eastern Asia

   SynonymsAsiatic black bearUrsus thibetanusSelenarctos thibetanus

   Broaderbear

   Part ofSelenarctos
2. 2.

   brown to black North American bear; smaller and less ferocious than the brown bear

   SynonymsAmerican black bearUrsus americanusEuarctos americanus

   Broaderbear

   Narrowercinnamon bear

   Part ofEuarctos

Questions about black bear

What does black bear mean?

black bear means "bear with a black coat living in central and eastern Asia". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

What is another word for black bear?

Close synonyms include Asiatic black bear, Ursus thibetanus, Selenarctos thibetanus, American black bear, Ursus americanus. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is black bear a common word?

black bear is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.