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View synonyms for ant

ant

1

[ ant ]

noun

  1. 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.


an't

2

[ ant, ahnt, eynt ]

  1. Chiefly British Dialect. contraction of am not.
  2. Dialect. ain't.

ant-

3
  1. variant of anti- before a vowel or h: antacid; anthelmintic .

-ant

4
  1. 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 .

ant.

5

abbreviation for

  1. antenna
  2. antonym.

Ant.

6

abbreviation for

  1. Antarctica.

ant-

1

prefix

  1. a variant of anti-

    antacid

“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


ant

2

/ ænt /

noun

  1. 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 formic
  2. white ant
    another name for a termite
  3. have ants in one's pants slang.
    to be restless or impatient
“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

an't

3

contraction of

  1. ɑːnt a rare variant spelling of aren't
  2. dialect.
    eɪnt a variant spelling of ain't
“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

-ant

4

suffix forming adjectives

  1. causing or performing an action or existing in a certain condition; the agent that performs an action

    protestant

    pleasant

    claimant

    deodorant

    servant

“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
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Other Words From

  • antlike adjective
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Word History and Origins

Origin of ant1

before 1000; Middle English am ( e ) te, em ( e ) te, Old English ǣmette; cognate with Middle Low German āmete, ēm ( e ) te, Middle Dutch amete, Old High German āmeiza ( ā- a- 3 + meizan to beat, cut, cognate with Albanian mih (he) digs), German Ameise. See emmet, mite 1

Origin of ant2

First recorded in 1700–10; ain't; aren't

Origin of ant3

< Latin -ant-, present participle stem of verbs in -āre; in many words < French -ant < Latin -ant- or -ent- ( -ent ); akin to Middle English, Old English -and-, -end-, present participle suffix
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Word History and Origins

Origin of ant1

Old English ǣmette; related to Old High German āmeiza, Old Norse meita; see emmet

Origin of ant2

from Latin -ant-, ending of present participles of the first conjugation
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Idioms and Phrases

Idioms
  1. have ants in one's pants, Slang. to be impatient or eager to act or speak.
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Example Sentences

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.

Strangely, he did this by diluting the sting of the ant scene.

In the U.S. view a small group—or cadre—of fierce red ants have taken power and are opposing the black-ant majority.

RAMON: (Seething with contempt) Secret ant landing strips, illegally established on foreign soil.

Her feet crush creeping things: there is a busy ant or blazoned beetle, with its back broken, writhing in the dust, unseen.

Pervenimvs 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.

But Burguy explains that romant is a false form, due to confusion with words rightly ending in -ant.

The ant individual preserves its powers of observation and thought and may initiate new processes.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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