ant
any of numerous black, red, brown, or yellow social insects of the family Formicidae, of worldwide distribution especially in warm climates, having a large head with inner jaws for chewing and outer jaws for carrying and digging, and living in highly organized colonies containing wingless female workers, a winged queen, and, during breeding seasons, winged males, some species being noted for engaging in warfare, slavemaking, or the cultivation of food sources.
Idioms about ant
have ants in one's pants, Slang. to be impatient or eager to act or speak.
Origin of ant
1Other words from ant
- antlike, adjective
Words that may be confused with ant
- ant , aunt
Words Nearby ant
Other definitions for an't (2 of 6)
Chiefly British Dialect. contraction of am not.
Dialect. ain't.
Origin of an't
2Other definitions for ant- (3 of 6)
variant of anti- before a vowel or h:antacid; anthelmintic.
Other definitions for -ant (4 of 6)
a suffix forming adjectives and nouns from verbs, occurring originally in French and Latin loanwords (pleasant; constant; servant) and productive in English on this model; -ant has the general sense “characterized by or serving in the capacity of” that named by the stem (ascendant; pretendant), especially in the formation of nouns denoting human agents in legal actions or other formal procedures (tenant; defendant; applicant; contestant). In technical and commercial coinages, -ant is a suffix of nouns denoting impersonal physical agents (propellant; lubricant; deodorant). In general, -ant can be added only to bases of Latin origin, with a very few exceptions, as coolant.
Origin of -ant
4- See also -ent.
Other definitions for ant. (5 of 6)
antenna
antonym.
Other definitions for Ant. (6 of 6)
Antarctica.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use ant in a sentence
The most cooperative organisms like ants, bees, termites—or, if you want to compare mammals to mammals, the beautiful naked mole rats—aren’t renowned for their brilliance.
Yet while the cows’ bacteria merely inhabit the animals’ stomach, the bacteria in the ants live inside their gut cells as endosymbionts.
How Two Became One: Origins of a Mysterious Symbiosis Found | Viviane Callier | September 9, 2020 | Quanta MagazineSo the ants evolved to leave the ancestral germline as a “decoy” to attract the bacteria, Rajakumar said.
How Two Became One: Origins of a Mysterious Symbiosis Found | Viviane Callier | September 9, 2020 | Quanta MagazineIn exchange, the carpenter ants provide a protective cellular environment for the Blochmannia and transmit them to their offspring, ensuring the bacteria’s survival.
How Two Became One: Origins of a Mysterious Symbiosis Found | Viviane Callier | September 9, 2020 | Quanta MagazineBullet ant stings, he finds, are roughly 10 times more painful.
What you need to know about ‘murder hornets’ | Susan Milius | July 20, 2020 | Science News For Students
An Uber driver went on an anti-gay, ant-American rant before physically assaulting his passenger.
I was reducing everything to ant scale, the U.S. included—an ant White House, an ant CIA, an ant Congress, an ant Pentagon.
Whit Stillman on the 20th Anniversary of ‘Barcelona’, His New Amazon Series, and the Myth of the Ugly Expat | Michael Weiss | August 10, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTStrangely, he did this by diluting the sting of the ant scene.
Whit Stillman on the 20th Anniversary of ‘Barcelona’, His New Amazon Series, and the Myth of the Ugly Expat | Michael Weiss | August 10, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTIn the U.S. view a small group—or cadre—of fierce red ants have taken power and are opposing the black-ant majority.
Whit Stillman on the 20th Anniversary of ‘Barcelona’, His New Amazon Series, and the Myth of the Ugly Expat | Michael Weiss | August 10, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTRAMON: (Seething with contempt) Secret ant landing strips, illegally established on foreign soil.
Whit Stillman on the 20th Anniversary of ‘Barcelona’, His New Amazon Series, and the Myth of the Ugly Expat | Michael Weiss | August 10, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTHer feet crush creeping things: there is a busy ant or blazoned beetle, with its back broken, writhing in the dust, unseen.
God and my Neighbour | Robert BlatchfordPervenimvs huc (sicut ant numeratum est) vigesim secund Maij.
Because we are crowded here and there in the ant-hills of our cities, we dream that the world is full.
The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice | Stephen LeacockBut Burguy explains that romant is a false form, due to confusion with words rightly ending in -ant.
Chaucer's Works, Volume 1 (of 7) -- Romaunt of the Rose; Minor Poems | Geoffrey ChaucerThe ant individual preserves its powers of observation and thought and may initiate new processes.
Man And His Ancestor | Charles Morris
British Dictionary definitions for ant (1 of 4)
/ (ænt) /
any small social insect of the widely distributed hymenopterous family Formicidae, typically living in highly organized colonies of winged males, wingless sterile females (workers), and fertile females (queens), which are winged until after mating: See also army ant, fire ant, slave ant, wood ant Related adjective: formic
white ant another name for a termite
have ants in one's pants slang to be restless or impatient
Origin of ant
1British Dictionary definitions for an't (2 of 4)
British Dictionary definitions for ant- (3 of 4)
a variant of anti- antacid
British Dictionary definitions for -ant (4 of 4)
causing or performing an action or existing in a certain condition; the agent that performs an action: pleasant; claimant; deodorant; protestant; servant
Origin of -ant
4Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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