dipterous
Americanadjective
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Entomology. belonging or pertaining to the order Diptera, comprising the houseflies, mosquitoes, and gnats, characterized by a single, anterior pair of membranous wings with the posterior pair reduced to small, knobbed structures.
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Botany. having two winglike appendages, as seeds or stems.
adjective
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Also: dipteran. of, relating to, or belonging to the Diptera, a large order of insects having a single pair of wings and sucking or piercing mouthparts. The group includes flies, mosquitoes, craneflies, and midges
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botany having two winglike parts
a dipterous seed
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of dipterous
1765–75; < New Latin dipterus < Greek dípteros; see Diptera, -ous
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.
In animals galls occur mostly on or under the skin of living mammals and birds, and are produced by Acaridea, and by dipterous insects of the genus Oestrus.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 4 "G" to "Gaskell, Elizabeth" by Various
Yet there is a vermin-killer, Like to thin the dipterous pest, To the farmer and the miller, Which instruction may suggest.
From Punch or the London Charivari, Vol. 93, September 3, 1887 by Burnand, F. C. (Francis Cowley), Sir
The flies which produce the excrescences named gall-nuts, and the worms from which come the dipterous insects, so diversified in their forms, manners, and places of abode, occupy the fourth volume.
From Lives of Eminent Zoologists, from Aristotle to Linnæus with Introductory remarks on the Study of Natural History by MacGillivray, William
Dipterocecidium: a gall formed by a dipterous insect.
From Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology by Smith, John. B.
Eucephalous: with a well-developed head, bearing the normal appendages: applied to certain dipterous larvae.
From Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology by Smith, John. B.
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.
