fruit fly
Americannoun
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any of numerous small dipterous insects of the family Tephritidae, the larvae of which feed on the fruit of various plants.
noun
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any small dipterous fly of the family Trypetidae , which feed on and lay their eggs in plant tissues See also gallfly
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any dipterous fly of the genus Drosophila See drosophila
Etymology
Origin of fruit fly
First recorded in 1745–55
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.
The Mexican fruit fly enters California when travelers bring fruits or vegetables back from regions that are infested, according to the department.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2026
Millions of sterile male Mexican fruit flies will be released over parts of San Diego County, after one mated female fruit fly was detected around Spring Valley, according to food and agriculture regulators.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2026
To create the connectome, researchers sliced a single fruit fly into thousands of extremely thin serial sections.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 10, 2026
"Export markets demand zero tolerance on pests. Even if inspectors find a single fruit fly, the entire consignment is discarded, leading to huge losses," he says.
From BBC ● Feb. 19, 2026
It was nothing like a fruit fly and wanted nothing to do with fruit flies.
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.
