bumblebee
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of bumblebee
Explanation
A bumblebee is a large, flying insect that pollenates flowers. Bumblebees are fatter and fuzzier than honeybees. They may look cute, but they can still sting you. A bumblebee is a completely different species than a honeybee, though it does make honey. Bumblebees produce honey in much smaller quantities, and it isn't harvested and eaten by people. Bumblebees also live in smaller groups, of up to four hundred bees, compared to honeybees' hives that have as many as 60,000 bees. In some places, they're called humblebees, from the Middle English humbul-be, which echoes the "hum" of a bee.
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:
Rowsell climbs onto the drum riser and steals Amey's bumblebee sunglasses while screaming into a megaphone.
From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026
“If you were a bumblebee, a moth, or a short-tongued solitary bee, how might you approach this bloom?”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
They were lost within the rubble of their fire-ravaged home: loungewear, blanket, bumblebee sweater and beanie — all yellow, Tatum’s favorite color.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 24, 2025
In bumblebee colonies across Europe, we found an average of eight, and up to 27, distinct pesticide compounds.
From Salon ● May 14, 2024
Deep sunrise purple, bright stone turquoise, shocking bumblebee yellow.
From "Free Lunch" by Rex Ogle
Pollen collected by bumblebees contained between two and seven times more heavy metals than pollen collected by honeybees across most of the metals examined.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 7, 2026
If people exterminate hives, native pollinators such as monarch butterflies, bumblebees, wasps and more can also be affected by the insecticides used.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2026
Programs like the University of Illinois Chicago’s nationwide agreements for monarch butterflies and bumblebees help companies reduce regulatory delays and help conserve endangered and declining species at the same time.
From Salon ● Apr. 7, 2026
Others held balloons emblazoned with pictures of bumblebees, a reference to the young girl's nickname "Matilda Bee".
From Barron's ● Dec. 18, 2025
It is invisible to us, but readily detectable by bumblebees and photoelectric cells.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
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.
