noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of bedbug
Explanation
A bedbug is like a tiny vampire that lives in mattresses and couches, feeding on human and animal blood. About the size of an apple seed, these insects are especially frightening in large groups. Bedbugs are tiny, flat insects that feed on human and animal blood, usually at night. These pests have coexisted with humans for thousands of years, hitchhiking around the world in luggage and clothing. Despite their name suggesting a preference for beds, bedbugs can also conceal themselves in unexpected places like electronics and behind wallpaper. Their ability to hide and travel with unsuspecting hosts makes them terrifying invaders in any environment.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"It was just a lovely wholesome time of Cambridge sightseeing and pubs, and now it is tarnished by these bedbug bites," she said.
From BBC ● Aug. 8, 2026
That means that many bedbug encounters go unreported to a government agency, he suggested.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 20, 2024
A bedbug-sniffing dog deployed by the Encore found a live bedbug on Dec. 5 after a guest complained, according to the news station.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 20, 2024
The bedbug break-out during Paris fashion week this fall was obviously horrifying, but the bad news doesn’t stop there.
From Slate ● Nov. 19, 2023
"Can't stand around chitchatting about a murder that never happened. Sam Westing was a madman. Insane. Crazy as a bedbug."
From "The Westing Game" by Ellen Raskin
He often gets bitten by bedbugs and walks with a cane, making climbing up and down from his bed difficult.
From Barron's ● May 28, 2026
At night, bedbugs nibbled at the 312 people laying like sardines on the floor of Namazi’s section of Ward 4.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 23, 2026
The only insects more reviled by Seoul residents are cockroaches and bedbugs, according to a survey conducted by local data company Embrain last year.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2025
After eating late-night stomach-turning Popeyes in Paris and shedding some tears, we stayed in a trippy '80s-styled hotel, fearful of Parisian bedbugs ready to chomp on our American flesh.
From Salon ● Jan. 4, 2025
When these bedbugs were experimentally placed in cloth impregnated with DDT, they lived for as long as a month; they proceeded to lay their eggs; and the resulting young grew and thrived.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
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.
