Meaning & use
ursine
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Meanings
adjectivebefore a nounliterary
Resembling a bear in build, movement, appearance, or manner.
Grammar: Usually before a noun: an ursine figure; use bearlike in everyday conversation.
Patterns
- ursine features
- ursine appearance
- ursine build
- ursine manner
The actor had an ursine build that filled the doorway.
Her ursine stillness made the costume convincing.
The dancer used an ursine heaviness in the opening scene.
adjectivebefore a nounbiologyspecialist
Relating to bears or the bear family Ursidae.
Grammar: Mostly scientific before nouns: ursine hibernation; lay writing prefers relating to bears.
Patterns
- ursine hibernation
- ursine behavior
- ursine species
Researchers compared ursine hibernation across cold climates.
The paper discusses ursine movement after winter denning.
Not every ursine species hibernates in the same way.
Common combinations
- ursine features
- The mask exaggerated the character's ursine features.
- ursine appearance
- His ursine appearance came from broad shoulders and a heavy coat.
- ursine hibernation
- Ursine hibernation lowers heart rate and conserves energy.
Synonyms and how they differ
- bearlike
- Bearlike is the everyday equivalent; ursine is formal and often literary or scientific.
Word family
- Ursidae noun
- The biological family that includes bears.
Commonly confused: ursine or bovine? ursine or bearlike?
ursine vs bovine
Bovine means relating to cattle; ursine is the matching adjective for bears.
ursine vs bearlike
Bearlike is plain and neutral; ursine sounds more formal, literary, or scientific.
Practice
To describe someone as looking like a bear in ordinary English, choose the natural word.
Choose one answer.
Bearlike is the everyday equivalent of formal ursine. Bovine means cowlike and equine means horselike, so they do not fit.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “ursine”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.