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.
Infected wounds are cleaned and debrided to remove any screwworm larvae, after which the animal is treated with an approved insecticide, DeNotta said.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 6, 2026
A 2025 patent application from UCR describes the use of pinenes to improve localized insecticide injections against western drywood termites.
From Science Daily • May 9, 2026
Unable to afford insecticide, Cuba has been plagued by mosquito-born diseases, overwhelming medical facilities.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 5, 2026
Durnell, and the issue of whether a federal insecticide rule preempts state law.
From MarketWatch • Dec. 2, 2025
Meanwhile, the nesting colonies of the grebes dwindled — from more than 1000 pairs before the first insecticide treatment to about 30 pairs in i960.
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.
