gadfly
any of various flies, as a stable fly or warble fly, that bite or annoy domestic animals.
a person who persistently annoys or provokes others with criticism, schemes, ideas, demands, requests, etc.
Origin of gadfly
1Words Nearby gadfly
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use gadfly in a sentence
All this shows Walton is not a gadfly or a persistent critic of Gloria’s.
‘You Have Failed, Us and Yourself’ – Bill Walton Has Had It with the Mayor’s Approach to Homelessness | Scott Lewis | September 16, 2022 | Voice of San DiegoIn exile he would be just another gadfly, too easy for Putin to ignore.
Johns’s approach has been influenced most profoundly by Marcel Duchamp — inventor of the ready-made, lover of chance, gadfly skeptic.
Seeing Jasper Johns: A seminal artist’s career is celebrated and illuminated in two cities | Sebastian Smee | September 29, 2021 | Washington PostHe'd be one of five people named “Kevin” in the race, though a state law passed after 2003 requires recall candidates to post their five most recent years of tax records, which could convince some gadfly candidates not to run.
The Trailer: Based or cringe? A new way of explaining the same old political brawls | David Weigel | July 13, 2021 | Washington PostIn 2008, and during his gadfly campaign in 2019, Gravel got the most attention as an old man who would say what plenty of people were thinking.
The Trailer: Reformers had high hopes for New York's election. The board of elections didn't help. | David Weigel | July 1, 2021 | Washington Post
But you run the very real risk of being little more than an interesting gadfly.
There’s a Senate Civil War Coming, No Matter Who Wins in November | David Freedlander | October 14, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe result left the Democratic governor, previously best known as a good-government gadfly, with approval ratings in the low 30s.
Illinois’s Mitt Romney Takes On Rod Blagojevich’s Successor | Ben Jacobs | March 19, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTI asked Child whether he felt a bond with me, based on the picture for my debut novel, The Year of the gadfly.
A Picture Says It All Or Does It? Judging an Author by Their Photo | Jennifer Miller | December 10, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTBut when I said that gadfly included vicious bullying and teen suicide, he changed tack.
A Picture Says It All Or Does It? Judging an Author by Their Photo | Jennifer Miller | December 10, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTThe right-wing gadfly is on the attack again—but this time she's going after her fellow nutjobs.
How Bad Is It? Even Ann Coulter Has Turned On Conservatives | Michelle Cottle | October 15, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTThe gadfly does not immediately sting you; it begins by buzzing in your ears, and you do not at first know what it is.
The Petty Troubles of Married Life, Complete | Honore de BalzacAs I shouldered my load their murmuring voices full of amorous desire stung me like a gadfly.
Tramping on Life | Harry KempThen she carried out her revenge by sending an enormous gadfly to torment poor Io, who was still in the form of a heifer.
Stories of Old Greece and Rome | Emilie Kip BakerThe trumpeter gadfly and a number of his relations, besides several Grasshoppers and Bees, were the chief musicians.
The Butterfly's Ball | R.M. BallantyneShe was nagged incessantly by a gadfly of conscience that buzzed in her ears the counsel to tell the police.
The Cup of Fury | Rupert Hughes
British Dictionary definitions for gadfly
/ (ˈɡædˌflaɪ) /
any of various large dipterous flies, esp the horsefly, that annoy livestock by sucking their blood
a constantly irritating or harassing person
Origin of gadfly
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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