gadfly

American  

[gad-flahy] / ˈgædˌflaɪ /

noun

• gadflies
  plural

1. any of various flies, as a stable fly or warble fly, that bite or annoy domestic animals.

2. a person who persistently annoys or provokes others with criticism, schemes, ideas, demands, requests, etc.

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gadfly British  

/ ˈɡædˌflaɪ /

noun

1. any of various large dipterous flies, esp the horsefly, that annoy livestock by sucking their blood

2. a constantly irritating or harassing person

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Usage

What does gadfly mean? A gadfly is a person who’s always hanging around and annoying people with criticism, demands, and questions. Basically, the kind of person you want to shoo away like a biting insect. Speaking of which ... The literal meaning of gadfly refers to any of several types of flies (such as stable flies or warble flies) that are known for pestering livestock by biting them and sucking their blood. Example: Don’t mind him—he’s just a gadfly who comes to every council meeting to request that the town pay to put a trampoline park in his backyard.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• gadflies
  plural

Etymology

Origin of gadfly

First recorded in 1585–95; gad ² + fly ¹

Explanation

A gadfly is an irritating person, a nuisance who will often ask too many questions or lob lots of criticisms in order to get his or her way. Gadfly can also refer to an actual fly. The next time you see a cow swatting at the air with her tail, look closer because she might actually be shooing away an annoying gadfly. This is any kind of fly that likes to pester, and even bite, livestock. The prefix gad is an old word for “spike” or “pointed stick” which can be thought of, in this case, as similar to a stinger. So if your office mate is continuously buzzing around your desk with stinging comments, call him a gadfly and try to shoo him back to his own desk.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

gadfly gadflies

The libertarian gadfly from Kentucky faces his toughest opponent in the president.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 18, 2026

Fleming, meanwhile, hasn’t had much to spend, and has always been somewhat of a gadfly going back to his years in the House of Representatives.

From Slate ● May 16, 2026

For decades, he also relished his role as a brutally insulting critic — sometimes of the bands he worked with — and a gadfly who pushed uncomfortable buttons about race, politics and sex.

From New York Times ● May 14, 2024

From Navalny’s early days as a blogger, he rose from being a relatively little-known gadfly — a lawyer who doggedly documented corruption in high places — to the country’s best-known opposition figure.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 16, 2024

In various court documents, judges described Cofield as a “con artist,” “no more than a gadfly and an exploiter of the court system,” and “the most litigious inmate in the system.”

From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot

As is quite common for these kinds of third-party gadflies, Oliver has made a career out of running unsuccessfully in multiple federal elections.

From Slate ● Mar. 12, 2024

There are always third party gadflies in presidential races and they can have an effect.

From Salon ● Apr. 17, 2023

But aside from planners, developers and the gadflies who attend late night city council meetings, the average citizen regards it the way they regard their electric company or municipal water system.

From New York Times ● Aug. 26, 2021

But there’ll be scores — perhaps hundreds — of publicity seekers, gadflies and wannabe somebodies on the ballot to replace Newsom.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 26, 2021

He was acutely influenced by the Quakers of his colony who, like gadflies, were stinging slaveholders to an awareness of their blood traffic, and by the rise of English humanitarianism.

From Benjamin Franklin Representative selections, with introduction, bibliograpy, and notes by Chester E. Jorgenson

Related Words

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