: a small nocturnal carnivore (Procyon lotor) of North America that is chiefly gray, has a black mask and bushy ringed tail, lives chiefly in trees, and has a varied diet including small animals, fruits, and nuts
b
: the pelt of this animal
2
: any of several animals resembling or related to the raccoon
Illustration of raccoon
raccoon 1a
Examples of raccoon in a Sentence
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On Monday afternoon, bumblebees and butterflies fluttered from flower to flower, while deer and raccoon tracks were printed into the dirt trails, still wet from this weekend’s rain.—Jenna Ebbers, Kansas City Star, 16 June 2026 Rabies is most common in wild animals including skunks, raccoons, bats and foxes.—Laura Horne, Charlotte Observer, 11 June 2026 In areas of Everglades National Park, where the snakes started showing up in the 1980s, sightings of mammals such as marsh rabbits, raccoons, opossums, bobcats and deer have plummeted by 80% to 99%, depending on species.—Bill Kearney, Sun Sentinel, 11 June 2026 As highly-opportunistic omnivores, raccoons hunt insects, aquatic animals, small mammals, and birds.—Shoshi Parks, Popular Science, 10 June 2026 See All Example Sentences for raccoon
: a small North American mammal that is mostly gray with a black mask, has a bushy ringed tail, lives chiefly in trees and is active at night, and eats a varied diet including small animals, fruits, eggs, and insects
also: the pelt of a raccoon
Etymology
Virginia Algonquian raugroughcoon, arocoun "racoon"