adulticide

[uh-duhl-tuh-sahyd]

noun

1. an insecticide that kills adult insects.

Word History and Origins

Origin of adulticide¹

First recorded in 1945–50; adult ( def. ) + -i- ( def. ) + -cide ( def. )

Example Sentences

The spraying is called adulticide — as opposed to larvicide, or killing insects before they hatch — and it was the first time that such a truck had ever rolled through the neighborhood.

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"We've reached this point because of the tremendous progress with mosquito control in the affected area, including the combination of aerial application of the larvicide Bti and the adulticide Naled, and rigorous investigation of possible Zika infections by Florida health officials," Frieden said in a news release.

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Public health officials have their own technocratic way of describing all this collateral destruction, worrying over problems such as “adulticide drift” and “nontarget insect mortality.”

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Where the virus-carrying mosquitoes are detected, the city commits larvicide, and, as a last resort, adulticide.

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The insecticide’s common name is Duet Dual-Action Adulticide.

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