fire ant

American

noun

any of several omnivorous ants, as the migrant Solenopsis geminata originating in tropical and subtropical South America, having a sting that produces a burning sensation.

fire ant British

noun

any mound-building predatory ant of the genus Solenopsis , of tropical and subtropical America, that can inflict a painful sting

"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

Etymology

Origin of fire ant

First recorded in 1790–1800

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.

I was sitting on a fire ant hill.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 6, 2026

At first it might be hard to distinguish the red imported fire ant from the sugar-loving Argentine ant, but a key distinction is the red imported fire ants’ aggressive nature.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 23, 2024

Collective insect aggregations like fire ant rafts already are inspiring researchers to develop materials with stimuli-responsive mechanical properties and behaviors.

From Science Daily • May 15, 2024

Winged fire ant queens are capable of flying several kilometres at a time but can travel much further if blown by wind currents.

From BBC • Jan. 16, 2024

Moreover, its encyclopedic Yearbook for 1952, which was devoted to insects, contained only one short paragraph on the fire ant out of its half-million words of text.

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