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INSECT
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I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Small air-breathing arthropod
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("insect" is a kind of...):
arthropod (invertebrate having jointed limbs and a segmented body with an exoskeleton made of chitin)
Meronyms (parts of "insect"):
air sac (any of the thin-walled extensions of the tracheae of insects)
thorax (part of an insect's body that bears the wings and legs)
mentum (a projection below the mouth of certain mollusks that resembles a chin)
ala (a wing of an insect)
wing (a movable organ for flying (one of a pair))
clypeus (a shield-like plate on the front of an insect's head)
Domain member category:
holometabolism; holometaboly (complete metamorphosis in insects)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "insect"):
orthopteran; orthopteron; orthopterous insect (any of various insects having leathery forewings and membranous hind wings and chewing mouthparts)
phasmid; phasmid insect (large cylindrical or flattened mostly tropical insects with long strong legs that feed on plants; walking sticks and leaf insects)
dictyopterous insect (cockroaches and mantids)
bug (general term for any insect or similar creeping or crawling invertebrate)
bug; hemipteran; hemipteron; hemipterous insect (insects with sucking mouthparts and forewings thickened and leathery at the base; usually show incomplete metamorphosis)
heteropterous insect (true bugs: insects whose forewings are membranous but have leathery tips)
homopteran; homopterous insect (insects having membranous forewings and hind wings)
psocopterous insect (small soft-bodied insect with chewing mouthparts and either no wings or two pairs)
ephemerid; ephemeropteran (short-lived insect)
plecopteran; stone fly; stonefly (primitive winged insect with a flattened body; used as bait by fishermen; aquatic gilled larvae are carnivorous and live beneath stones)
neuropteran; neuropteron; neuropterous insect (insect having biting mouthparts and four large membranous wings with netlike veins)
odonate (large primitive predatory aquatic insect having two pairs of membranous wings)
trichopteran; trichopteron; trichopterous insect (caddis fly)
thysanuran insect; thysanuron (primitive wingless insects: bristletail)
thysanopter; thysanopteron; thysanopterous insect (an insect of the order Thysanoptera)
earwig (any of numerous insects of the order Dermaptera having elongate bodies and slender many-jointed antennae and a pair of large pincers at the rear of the abdomen)
lepidopteran; lepidopteron; lepidopterous insect (insect that in the adult state has four wings more or less covered with tiny scales)
pupa (an insect in the inactive stage of development (when it is not feeding) intermediate between larva and adult)
imago (an adult insect produced after metamorphosis)
queen (the only fertile female in a colony of social insects such as bees and ants and termites; its function is to lay eggs)
social insect (an insect that lives in a colony with other insects of the same species)
ephemeral; ephemeron (anything short-lived, as an insect that lives only for a day in its winged form)
holometabola; metabola (insects that undergo complete metamorphosis)
defoliator (an insect that strips the leaves from plants)
pollinator (an insect that carries pollen from one flower to another)
gallfly (any of various insects that deposit their eggs in plants causing galls in which the larvae feed)
mecopteran (any of various carnivorous insects of the order Mecoptera)
collembolan; springtail (any of numerous minute wingless primitive insects possessing a special abdominal appendage that allows the characteristic nearly perpetual springing pattern; found in soil rich in organic debris or on the surface of snow or water)
proturan; telsontail (any of several minute primitive wingless and eyeless insects having a cone-shaped head; inhabit damp soil or decaying organic matter)
beetle (insect having biting mouthparts and front wings modified to form horny covers overlying the membranous rear wings)
web spinner (any of a small order of slender typically tropical insects that nest in colonies in silken tunnels that they spin)
louse; sucking louse (wingless usually flattened bloodsucking insect parasitic on warm-blooded animals)
bird louse; biting louse; louse (wingless insect with mouth parts adapted for biting; mostly parasitic on birds)
flea (any wingless bloodsucking parasitic insect noted for ability to leap)
dipteran; dipteron; dipterous insect; two-winged insects (insects having usually a single pair of functional wings (anterior pair) with the posterior pair reduced to small knobbed structures and mouth parts adapted for sucking or lapping or piercing)
leaf-miner; leaf miner (any of various small moths or dipterous flies whose larvae burrow into and feed on leaf tissue especially of the family Gracilariidae)
hymenopter; hymenopteran; hymenopteron; hymenopterous insect (insects having two pairs of membranous wings and an ovipositor specialized for stinging or piercing)
worker (sterile member of a colony of social insects that forages for food and cares for the larvae)
termite; white ant (whitish soft-bodied ant-like social insect that feeds on wood)
Holonyms ("insect" is a member of...):
cloud; swarm (a group of many things in the air or on the ground)
Arthropoda; phylum Arthropoda (jointed-foot invertebrates: arachnids; crustaceans; insects; millipedes; centipedes)
Derivation:
insectan (of or relating to the class Insecta)
Domain member category:
chirpy ((birds or insects) characterized by or tending to chirp)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A person who has a nasty or unethical character undeserving of respect
Synonyms:
dirt ball; insect; louse; worm
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("insect" is a kind of...):
disagreeable person; unpleasant person (a person who is not pleasant or agreeable)
Context examples:
The scientists said a scrap of skin also found suggests another snake, and bits of plant and insect matter indicate the area may have been forest at the time the snake was preserved.
(Cretaceous baby snake fossil found in Myanmar, Wikinews)
Mthl10 appears on the surface of insect cells and acts as the binding partner to a signaling molecule known as growth-blocking peptide (GBP).
(Defending against environmental stressors may shorten lifespan, National Institutes of Health)
The findings show that combining crop rotation, using virus-free seed, removing plants showing disease symptoms and controlling insect pests is the best way to control MLN.
(Researchers model ways to control deadly maize disease, SciDev.Net)
Increasing native predatory birds in agricultural areas can control insect pests that damage crops, and potentially reduce pesticide use.
(American kestrels, most common predatory birds in U.S., can reduce need for pesticide use, National Science Foundation)
B laterosporus is found in soil, water, insects and their larvae, and may be pathogenic in humans.
(Brevibacillus laterosporus, NCI Thesaurus)
The researchers made NMDA receptors in insect cells and then purified them.
(Structure of receptor involved in brain disorders, NIH)
These insects were as large as partridges: I took out their stings, found them an inch and a half long, and as sharp as needles.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
But, according to a new study, the outlook for this critical insect is mostly grim.
(Study Finds Mixed News About Bee Populations, VOA)
Save the dull piping of insects and the sough of the leaves, there was silence everywhere—the sweet restful silence of nature.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Begone, vile insect! Or rather, stay, that I may trample you to dust!
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
