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View synonyms for

insect

[ in-sekt ]

noun

  1. any animal of the class Insecta, comprising small, air-breathing arthropods having the body divided into three parts (head, thorax, and abdomen), and having three pairs of legs and usually two pairs of wings.
  2. any small arthropod, such as a spider, tick, or centipede, having a superficial, general similarity to the insects. Compare arachnid.
  3. a contemptible or unimportant person.


adjective

  1. of, pertaining to, like, or used for or against insects:

    an insect bite; insect powder.

insect

/ ˈɪԲɛ /

noun

  1. any small air-breathing arthropod of the class Insecta, having a body divided into head, thorax, and abdomen, three pairs of legs, and (in most species) two pairs of wings. Insects comprise about five sixths of all known animal species, with a total of over one million named species entomic
  2. (loosely) any similar invertebrate, such as a spider, tick, or centipede
  3. a contemptible, loathsome, or insignificant person
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

insect

  1. Any of very numerous, mostly small arthropods of the class Insecta, having six segmented legs in the adult stage and a body divided into three parts (the head, thorax, and abdomen). The head has a pair of antennae and the thorax usually has one or two pairs of wings. Most insects undergo substantial change in form during development from the young to the adult stage. More than 800,000 species are known, most of them beetles. Other insects include flies, bees, ants, grasshoppers, butterflies, cockroaches, aphids, and silverfish.
  2. See Notes at biomass
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Derived Forms

  • ˈ𳦳ٱ𲹲, adjective
  • ˈԲ𳦳-ˌ, adjective
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Other Word Forms

  • ··پ· [in-sek-, tahy, -v, uh, l], adjective
  • ԴDz·s𳦳 noun
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Word History and Origins

Origin of insect1

First recorded in 1595–1605; from Latin insectum, noun use of neuter of insectus, past participle of Բ “to incise, cut”; translation of Greek éԳٴdzDz “insect,” literally, “notched or incised one”; entomo-; segment
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Word History and Origins

Origin of insect1

C17: from Latin insectum (animal that has been) cut into, insect, from Բ, from in- ² + to cut; translation of Greek entomon insect
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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

Summer visitors, such as swallows and swifts, can expect to find a plentiful food supply, with insects on the wing.

From

The most common species is probably a plant or insect, he said, but compared with a fence lizard, “they’re not as charismatic or easy to find.”

From

Honeybees are essentially domesticated insects, and in fact are far less endangered than many of the species they are now pushing out.

From

The suspects had concealed the creatures in "specially modified test tubes and syringes" which would have enabled the insects to survive for two months, the KWS said.

From

Wearing overalls and work boots, Gemperle walked through her orchard with a clipboard under her arm, stopping to check traps hung in the trees to monitor for almond-eating insects.

From

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in secretInsecta