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• wasp
  wasp

  noun

  any of numerous social or solitary hymenopterous insects of the Vespidae, Sphecidae, and allied families, generally having a long, slender body and narrow waist and, in the female, a stinger.
• WASP
  WASP

  noun

  a member of the Women's Air Force Service Pilots, an organization disbanded in 1944.
• Wasp
  Wasp

  acronym

  White Anglo-Saxon Protestant: a person descended from N European, usually Protestant stock, forming a group often considered the most dominant, privileged, and influential in American society

wasp

¹ American  

[wosp] / wɒsp /

noun

• wasps
  plural

1. any of numerous social or solitary hymenopterous insects of the Vespidae, Sphecidae, and allied families, generally having a long, slender body and narrow waist and, in the female, a stinger.

2. a person who is snappish or petulant.

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WASP ² American  

[wosp] / wɒsp /

noun

1. a member of the Women's Air Force Service Pilots, an organization disbanded in 1944.

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WASP ³ American  

[wosp] / wɒsp /

Or Wasp

noun

1. a white Anglo-Saxon Protestant.

2. a member of the privileged, established white upper middle class in the U.S.

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adjective

1. Waspy.

wasp ¹ British  

/ wɒsp /

noun

1. any social hymenopterous insect of the family Vespidae, esp Vespula vulgaris ( common wasp ), typically having a black-and-yellow body and an ovipositor specialized for stinging See also potter wasp hornet

2. any of various solitary hymenopterans, such as the digger wasp and gall wasp

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Wasp ² British  

/ wɒsp /

acronym

1. White Anglo-Saxon Protestant: a person descended from N European, usually Protestant stock, forming a group often considered the most dominant, privileged, and influential in American society

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WASP Cultural  

1. An acronym for “w hite A nglo-S axon P rotestant” — a member of what many consider to be the most privileged and influential group in American society.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• waspiness
  noun
• Waspy
  adjective
• wasplike
  adjective
• waspy
  adjective
• waspily
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• wasps
  plural

Etymology

Origin of wasp¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English waspe, Old English wæsp, metathetic variant of wæps, itself variant of wæfs; cognate with Dutch wesp, German Wespe; akin to Latin vespa

Origin of WASP³

First recorded in 1955–60

Explanation

Wasps are flying insects related to bees and ants. While some wasps can inflict painful stings, if you don't disturb their nest and avoid stepping on or swatting them, you're unlikely to be stung. Yellow jackets and hornets are types of wasps. Like their bee relatives, wasps are important pollinators. They also help control bug populations by feeding smaller bugs (including pests like aphids) to their young. Because wasp stings can hurt a lot, many people fear wasps. But most wasp species do not have stingers that can pierce a person's skin, and only females have stingers at all. Unless you bother them, these buzzing insects will leave you alone. Wasp is related to the Latin word for wasp, vespa.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

wasp WASP Wasp wasps

Some had trees growing through fallen roofs, one had a wasp nest peeking out the window, and many had red diamonds indicating they were at risk of collapse.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026

At first, the team believed they were documenting wasp nests.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 3, 2026

“I use it as a bee and wasp killer,” another wrote.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 26, 2026

The Alexandra Palace wasp is back - but where are they coming from?

From BBC ● Dec. 15, 2025

The young wasp, hatching as a larva, feeds on the paralyzed grub and destroys it.

From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson

Scraping her savings together, Dybbro took flying lessons at $10 an hour — which equates to about $180 an hour today — to earn the pilot’s license required to apply to be a WASP.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 28, 2022

My wife is half Brooklyn Jew, half Newport WASP, and throughout her pregnancy, I assumed that our child would look more like her than like me.

From New York Times ● Oct. 5, 2021

My mother was an old-line WASP; her ancestry can easily be traced back to 16th-century England, and in some cases further than that.

From Salon ● Jul. 4, 2021

In the original novel, Benjamin was a tall, athletic WASP.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 26, 2021

"Oh," she said, "then we're still safe, Dr. Rohmer. You can tell the taxpayers that the Epiphany Middle School team has one Jew, one half-Jew, a WASP, and an Indian."

From "The View From Saturday" by E.L. Konigsburg

Wasp nests typically have rough walls made from chewed plant material and saliva.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 3, 2026

Evangeline Lilly, who broke out with ‘Lost’ and recently played the Wasp in Marvel’s ‘Ant Man’ films, says she is taking an indefinite hiatus from acting.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 5, 2026

Wasp stings can pose a public health risk – they can cause anaphylactic shock - Mr Horsley points out, so he has a word of advice.

From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2025

Next, Season 12 finalists the Buffalos and Wasp delivered two final performances each, after which the audience members cast their votes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 19, 2024

The Wasp couldn’t move because of the bag.

From "Stuart Little" by E.B. White

For more than six decades, evolutionary biologists have debated whether an unusual genetic system shared by ants, bees and wasps helped drive one of nature's most sophisticated forms of social organization: eusociality.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 15, 2026

"It was just fascinating to watch the wasps coming and going and building up the lovely layers of colour — it looks like exotic paper," she said.

From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026

Mr. Hanson, a biologist whose previous books explored seeds and feathers, traces bees’ evolutionary transformation from carnivorous ancestral wasps to the busy pollinators of today.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026

Although honey bees and paper wasps are well known for building large communal nests, most bee species actually live alone.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 5, 2026

“They died out because of the dust. Don’t you really know what a wasp is? You must have been alive when there were wasps; that’s only been—”

From "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick