noun
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A pesticide used to kill insects. Chlordane and DDT are insecticides.
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Compare fungicide herbicide rodenticide
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of insecticide
Explanation
Insecticide is a type of chemical used to kill insects, like those that have infested a house or a farmer's crops. Words that end in -cide usually have to do with killing, such as genocide, suicide, and patricide. Another is insecticide, which is a word for a substance that kills insects and bugs. Insecticide is a type of chemical, and it often consists of a powder or gas. If your house is full of bedbugs or cockroaches, you need insecticide. Farmers sometimes use insecticides to keep insects from destroying crops. If you're a bug, insecticide is bad news.
Vocabulary lists containing insecticide
"Dr. Seuss" by Jill Foran
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Speeches by César Chávez
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"The Exterminator" by Kirsten Weir
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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.
See Examples For:
A 2024 report by Kenyan food safety initiative Route to Food found a farmer in Kimana area using an insecticide that had an "active ingredient" that was "a chemical compound of cyanide".
From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026
Higher levels of prenatal insecticide exposure were directly associated with more significant alterations in brain structure, function, and metabolic health.
From Science Daily ● May 21, 2026
This summer, I will be companion planting basil, dill and marigolds with my tomatoes and an occasional spritz of a natural insecticide.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 8, 2026
Unable to afford insecticide, Cuba has been plagued by mosquito-born diseases, overwhelming medical facilities.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 5, 2026
They had cleaned up the mess after the virus had wiped out everyone else, and now they were busy fogging the rooms with insecticide, in the hope that it might somehow disperse the virus.
From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston
Proponents say French sugar beet, apple and hazelnut farmers need the insecticides -- forbidden in France since 2018 and 2019 respectively -- to help them compete with their European counterparts.
From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026
Texas ranchers are using drones, increasing inspections and stepping up use of insecticides to monitor and combat the parasitic fly.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
Exterminators charge extra for extraction and often leave contaminated hives behind after applying insecticides.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2026
Both insecticides have been banned for outdoor agricultural use in the UK, but remain widely used in products for pets.
From BBC ● Mar. 10, 2026
Whenever insecticides are applied only minimum dosages are used — barely enough to control the pest without avoidable harm to beneficial species.
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
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
