WOLF | Meaning, Definition In Cambridge English Dictionary

Meaning of wolf in English wolfnoun uk /wʊlf/ us /wʊlf/ plural wolves

wolf noun (ANIMAL)

Add to word list Add to word list B2 [ C ] a wild animal of the dog family: Wolves hunt in groups known as packs. We could hear wolves howling in the distance.   LazyFocus/iStock/Getty Images Plus/GettyImages

• In the silence of the night, a lone wolf howled.
• She heard the wind whistling through the trees and the howl of a distant wolf.

Canines (dogs)

• Affenpinscher
• Afghan hound
• Airedale terrier
• Akita
• Alaskan Klee Kai
• corgi
• Coton de Tuléar
• coyote
• cur
• dachshund
• Neapolitan mastiff
• Nederlandse Kooikerhondje
• Newfoundland
• Norfolk terrier
• Norrbottenspets
• shih tzu
• Shikoku
• short-haired
• Siberian husky
• sight hound

See more results »

wolf noun (MAN)

[ C usually singular ] old-fashioned disapproving a man who often tries to have sex with the women he meets: He had the reputation of being a bit of a wolf.

Idioms

keep the wolf from the door a wolf in sheep's clothing wolfverb [ T ]   informal uk /wʊlf/ us /wʊlf/ to eat a large amount of food very quickly: The boys wolfed the sandwiches (down) and then started on the cake. to eat food

• eatWhat do you want to eat for lunch?
• haveI'll just have one more piece of chocolate cake.
• consumeHe consumes vast quantities of bread with every meal.
• devourThe children devoured a whole packet of biscuits.
• bolt (down)Don't bolt down your food - you'll make yourself ill!
• gobble (up/down)The children gobbled their sweets.

See more results » Eating

• al desko
• binge
• binge eating
• bite
• break bread idiom
• devour
• feeder
• feeding
• finish
• finish up phrasal verb
• food baby
• gobble
• graze
• gulp
• inhale
• partake
• pick
• pick at something phrasal verb
• picnic
• pig

See more results » (Definition of wolf from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

wolf | American Dictionary

wolfnoun [ C ] us /wʊlf/ plural wolves us/wʊlvz/

wolf noun [C] (ANIMAL)

Add to word list Add to word list a wild animal of the dog family

Idiom

a wolf in sheep’s clothing wolfverb [ T ]   infml us /wʊlf/

wolf verb [T] (EAT)

to eat a large amount of food very quickly: He wolfed down lunch in five minutes. (Definition of wolf from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press) What is the pronunciation of wolf? What is the pronunciation of wolves?

Translations of wolf

in Chinese (Traditional) 動物, 狼, 男人… See more in Chinese (Simplified) 动物, 狼, 男人… See more in Spanish lobo, devorar, zamparse… See more in Portuguese lobo, devorar, lobo/-ba [masculine-feminine]… See more in Marathi in Japanese in Turkish in French in Catalan in Dutch in Tamil in Hindi in Gujarati in Danish in Swedish in Malay in German in Norwegian in Urdu in Ukrainian in Telugu in Bengali in Czech in Indonesian in Thai in Vietnamese in Polish in Korean in Italian लांडगा… See more オオカミ, ～をがつがつ食べる, 狼（おおかみ）… See more kurt, aç kurt gibi yemek… See more loup [masculine], engloutir, loup/-ouve… See more llop, devorar… See more wolf, opschrokken… See more நாய் குடும்பத்தை சேர்ந்த காட்டு விலங்கு… See more भेड़िया… See more વરુ… See more ulv, sluge… See more varg, sluka, glufsa i sig… See more serigala, makan dgn lahap… See more der Wolf, (hinunter)schlingen… See more ulv [masculine], kaste i seg, sluke… See more بھیڑیا… See more вовк, жадібно проковтнути… See more తోడేలు… See more নেকড়ে… See more vlk, (z)hltat… See more serigala, melahap… See more สุนัขป่า, สวาปาม… See more chó sói, ăn ngấu nghiến… See more wilk, pożerać, pochłonąć… See more 늑대, 게걸스럽게 음식을 먹다… See more lupo, divorare… See more Need a translator?

Get a quick, free translation!

Translator tool

Browse

wokeness wokery wokester wold wolf wolf pack BETA wolf spider wolf whistle wolfberry {{#randomImageQuizHook.filename}} {{#randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} Test your vocabulary with our fun image quizzes Try a quiz now {{/randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{^randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{/randomImageQuizHook.isQuiz}} {{/randomImageQuizHook.filename}}

More meanings of wolf

• dire wolf
• lone wolf
• wolf pack
• wolf spider
• Tasmanian wolf
• wolf whistle
• wolf-whistle

See all meanings

• a wolf in sheep’s clothing idiom
• cry wolf idiom
• a wolf in sheep's clothing idiom
• keep the wolf from the door idiom

See all idioms and phrases

Word of the Day

tell apart

UK /tel/ US /tel/

to be able to see the difference between two very similar things or people

About this

Blog

Talking about death (Part 2)

January 14, 2026 Read More

New Words

bio-baiting January 12, 2026 More new words has been added to list To top AI Assistant Contents EnglishAmericanTranslations AI Assistant {{#displayLoginPopup}} Cambridge Dictionary +Plus

Learn more with +Plus

Sign up for free and get access to exclusive content: Free word lists and quizzes from Cambridge Tools to create your own word lists and quizzes Word lists shared by our community of dictionary fans Sign up now or Log in Cambridge Dictionary +Plus

Learn more with +Plus

Create word lists and quizzes for free Sign up now or Log in {{/displayLoginPopup}} {{#displayClassicSurvey}} {{/displayClassicSurvey}}

• Cambridge Dictionary +Plus
• My profile
• +Plus help
• Log out

AI Assistant Dictionary Definitions Clear explanations of natural written and spoken English English Learner’s Dictionary Essential British English Essential American English Translations Click on the arrows to change the translation direction. Bilingual Dictionaries English–Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Simplified)–English English–Chinese (Traditional) Chinese (Traditional)–English English–Danish Danish–English English–Dutch Dutch–English English–French French–English English–German German–English English–Indonesian Indonesian–English English–Italian Italian–English English–Japanese Japanese–English English–Norwegian Norwegian–English English–Polish Polish–English English–Portuguese Portuguese–English English–Spanish Spanish–English English–Swedish Swedish–English Semi-bilingual Dictionaries English–Arabic English–Bengali English–Catalan English–Czech English–Gujarati English–Hindi English–Korean English–Malay English–Marathi English–Russian English–Tamil English–Telugu English–Thai English–Turkish English–Ukrainian English–Urdu English–Vietnamese Translate Grammar Thesaurus Pronunciation Cambridge Dictionary +Plus Games {{userName}}

• Cambridge Dictionary +Plus
• My profile
• +Plus help
• Log out

Log in / Sign up English (UK) Change English (UK) English (US) Español Português 中文 (简体) 正體中文 (繁體) Dansk Deutsch Français Italiano Nederlands Norsk Polski Русский Türkçe Tiếng Việt Svenska Українська 日本語 한국어 ગુજરાતી தமிழ் తెలుగు বাঙ্গালি मराठी हिंदी Follow us Choose a dictionary

• Recent and Recommended {{#preferredDictionaries}} {{name}} {{/preferredDictionaries}}
• Definitions Clear explanations of natural written and spoken English English Learner’s Dictionary Essential British English Essential American English
• Grammar and thesaurus Usage explanations of natural written and spoken English Grammar Thesaurus
• Pronunciation British and American pronunciations with audio English Pronunciation
• Translation Click on the arrows to change the translation direction. Bilingual Dictionaries
  • English–Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Simplified)–English
  • English–Chinese (Traditional) Chinese (Traditional)–English
  • English–Danish Danish–English
  • English–Dutch Dutch–English
  • English–French French–English
  • English–German German–English
  • English–Indonesian Indonesian–English
  • English–Italian Italian–English
  • English–Japanese Japanese–English
  • English–Norwegian Norwegian–English
  • English–Polish Polish–English
  • English–Portuguese Portuguese–English
  • English–Spanish Spanish–English
  • English–Swedish Swedish–English
  Semi-bilingual Dictionaries English–Arabic English–Bengali English–Catalan English–Czech English–Gujarati English–Hindi English–Korean English–Malay English–Marathi English–Russian English–Tamil English–Telugu English–Thai English–Turkish English–Ukrainian English–Urdu English–Vietnamese
• Dictionary +Plus Word Lists

Choose your language English (UK) English (US) Español Português 中文 (简体) 正體中文 (繁體) Dansk Deutsch Français Italiano Nederlands Norsk Polski Русский Türkçe Tiếng Việt Svenska Українська 日本語 한국어 ગુજરાતી தமிழ் తెలుగు বাঙ্গালি मराठी हिंदी Contents

• English   
  • Noun 
    • wolf (ANIMAL)
    • wolf (MAN)
  Verb
• American   
  • Noun 
    • wolf (ANIMAL)
  • Verb 
    • wolf (EAT)

• Translations
• Grammar
• All translations

My word lists

To add wolf to a word list please sign up or log in.

Sign up or Log in My word lists

Add wolf to one of your lists below, or create a new one.

{{#verifyErrors}}

{{message}}

{{/verifyErrors}} {{^verifyErrors}} {{#message}}

{{message}}

{{/message}} {{^message}}

Something went wrong.

{{/message}} {{/verifyErrors}} {{name}} More Go to your word lists {{#verifyErrors}}

{{message}}

{{/verifyErrors}} {{^verifyErrors}} {{#message}}

{{message}}

{{/message}} {{^message}}

Something went wrong.

{{/message}} {{/verifyErrors}} Tell us about this example sentence: The word in the example sentence does not match the entry word. The sentence contains offensive content. Cancel Submit Thanks! Your feedback will be reviewed. {{#verifyErrors}}

{{message}}

{{/verifyErrors}} {{^verifyErrors}} {{#message}}

{{message}}

{{/message}} {{^message}}

There was a problem sending your report.

{{/message}} {{/verifyErrors}} The word in the example sentence does not match the entry word. The sentence contains offensive content. Cancel Submit Thanks! Your feedback will be reviewed. {{#verifyErrors}}

{{message}}

{{/verifyErrors}} {{^verifyErrors}} {{#message}}

{{message}}

{{/message}} {{^message}}

There was a problem sending your report.

{{/message}} {{/verifyErrors}}