iguana

American  

[ih-gwah-nuh] / ɪˈgwɑ nə /

noun

1. a large, arboreal lizard, Iguana iguana, native to Central and South America, having stout legs and a crest of spines from neck to tail.

2. any of various related lizards of the genera Iguana, Ctenosaura, Conolophus, and Amblyrhynchus.

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iguana British  

/ ɪˈɡwɑːnə /

noun

1. either of two large tropical American arboreal herbivorous lizards of the genus Iguana, esp I. iguana ( common iguana ), having a greyish-green body with a row of spines along the back: family Iguanidae

2. Also called: iguanid.  any other lizard of the tropical American family Iguanidae

3. another name for leguaan

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Other Word Forms

• iguanian noun

Etymology

Origin of iguana

1545–55; < Spanish < Arawak iwana

Example Sentences

Over the years, he shared cooking recipes for alligator, iguana, frog legs, smoked duck and a variety of other dishes.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 12, 2025

They also collected X-ray videos from an iguana and an alligator and examined the shapes of leg bones in other birds, including a penguin, an ostrich, an owl, and a crane.

From Science Daily • Nov. 20, 2024

An iguana grabbed a ball at the 2014 Puerto Rico Open.

From Seattle Times • May 16, 2024

The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists Liolaemus forsteri, or the Forster’s tree iguana, as endangered, according to the Red Book of the Vertebrate Wildlife of Bolivia.

From National Geographic • Oct. 26, 2023

In the den that smelled of camphorated cobwebs he found himself facing a kind of dusty iguana whose lungs whistled when he breathed.

From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez