colony collapse disorder

American  

noun

1. a pathological condition affecting a large number of honeybee colonies, in which various stresses may lead to the abrupt disappearance of worker bees from the hive, leaving only the queen and newly hatched bees behind and thus causing the colony to stop functioning. CCD

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colony collapse disorder Scientific  

1. A condition chiefly affecting the hives of domesticated honeybees, characterized by the sudden disappearance and death of so many worker bees that the colony cannot be maintained.

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Etymology

Origin of colony collapse disorder

First recorded in 2006

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

colony collapse disorder

Those who keep and study bees, as Jesse Plemons’s character does in the chilling sci-fi black comedy “Bugonia,” have paid a lot of attention to a phenomenon called colony collapse disorder, or CCD.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2025

Called "colony collapse disorder," and first identified in 2006, some beekeepers saw as many as half of their bees suddenly and mysteriously die.

From Salon ● Aug. 18, 2022

Honeybee populations in North America have been suffering large losses caused by a syndrome known as colony collapse disorder, whose cause is unclear.

From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022

It’s still not clear why, in 2006, bees began abandoning otherwise healthy colonies, a phenomenon that became known as colony collapse disorder.

From Washington Post ● Jun. 20, 2019

People talk about the “loss” of bees to colony collapse disorder, and that appears to be the right word: Affected hives aren’t full of dead bees, but simply mysteriously empty.

From New York Times ● Nov. 27, 2018

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