''ursine'' ▫ᴱᴺ Entries

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''ursine'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20250815012504-00-⌔

ursine - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Adjective

ursine (comparative more ursine, superlative most ursine)

• Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of bears.
  • ✤ The British chief having undergone the ursine embrace of the Seikh monarch, the whole cavalcade proceeded towards the town.¹
  • ✤ […] the old man’s eccentricities, sometimes bordering on the ursine, repelled the juniors […]²
  • ✤ […] we noted that a preponderance of the evidence supports an ursine origin for the giant panda.³
• Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of the bear subfamily Ursinae.
  • 2004, in Donald G. Lindburg and Karen Baragona (eds.), Giant Pandas: Biology and Conservation, Berkeley: University of California Press, Part Two, Introduction, p. 37, [4]
• (entomology, of caterpillars) Covered in stiff bristles.

Noun

ursine (plural ursines)

• (zoology) A bear.

Etymology

Mid 16th century, from Latin ursīnus, adjectival form of ursus (“bear”) + -ine.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈɜː.saɪn/
• (US) IPA: /ˈɝsaɪn/, /ˈɝsɪn/
• Audio (US):, Audio (US): 🔊 🔊

Printed 2026-06-28.

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Footnotes

1. 1832, Godfrey Mundy, chapter VI, in Pen and Pencil Sketches, Being the Journal of a Tour in India ‎${}^{[1]}$, volume 1, London: John Murray, page 320: ↩

2. 1924, Herman Melville, chapter 8, in Billy Budd ‎${}^{[2]}$, London: Constable & Co.: ↩

3. 2004, in Donald G. Lindburg and Karen Baragona (eds.), Giant Pandas: Biology and Conservation, Berkeley: University of California Press, Part Two, Introduction, p. 77, [3] ↩

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