insect
Americannoun
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any animal of the class Insecta, comprising small, air-breathing arthropods having the body divided into three parts (head, thorax, and abdomen), and having three pairs of legs and usually two pairs of wings.
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any small arthropod, such as a spider, tick, or centipede, having a superficial, general similarity to the insects.
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a contemptible or unimportant person.
adjective
noun
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any small air-breathing arthropod of the class Insecta, having a body divided into head, thorax, and abdomen, three pairs of legs, and (in most species) two pairs of wings. Insects comprise about five sixths of all known animal species, with a total of over one million named species
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(loosely) any similar invertebrate, such as a spider, tick, or centipede
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a contemptible, loathsome, or insignificant person
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Any of very numerous, mostly small arthropods of the class Insecta, having six segmented legs in the adult stage and a body divided into three parts (the head, thorax, and abdomen). The head has a pair of antennae and the thorax usually has one or two pairs of wings. Most insects undergo substantial change in form during development from the young to the adult stage. More than 800,000 species are known, most of them beetles. Other insects include flies, bees, ants, grasshoppers, butterflies, cockroaches, aphids, and silverfish.
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See Notes at biomass bug entomology
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of insect
First recorded in 1595–1605; from Latin insectum, noun use of neuter of insectus, past participle of insecāre “to incise, cut”; translation of Greek éntomon “insect,” literally, “notched or incised one”; see entomo-; cf. segment
Explanation
An insect is commonly called a bug. Flies, bees, and wasps are all insects. Insects are the tiny marvels of the natural world. From industrious ants to dazzling butterflies, these miniature critters come in all shapes, sizes, and colors, each with its own special role in ecosystems worldwide. With over a million species identified and countless more waiting to be discovered, insects continue to fascinate scientists and inspire curiosity in nature lovers everywhere. Insect comes from the Latin phrase animal insectum, which means "animal with a cut up (segmented) body."
Vocabulary lists containing insect
Buzzwords for National Honey Bee Day
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Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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A Cut Above: Sect, Sec
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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:
Deep-diving insect larvae in an African lake are forcing scientists to reconsider a popular explanation for why insects are almost entirely absent from the open ocean.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 27, 2026
The coroner determined that the markings found on her body were consistent with “postmortem insect activity” and were not evidence of strangulation.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
Some governments also use Wolbachia, a naturally occurring bacterium found in about half of all insect species, to curb the spread of mosquito-borne diseases like dengue.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
In an accompanying statement, the groups argued the rule changes could immediately harm wildlife including Florida manatees, grizzly bears, salmon and steelhead fish, bird species like rufa red knots and golden-cheeked warblers, and insect pollinators.
From Barron's ● Jul. 14, 2026
It is an African insect that burrows under the skin of the feet.
From "Lost Boy, Lost Girl" by John Bul Dau
In hard-hit areas like Le Porge, experts say insects will have perished en masse and larger creatures from toads to lizards will not have been spared either.
From Barron's ● Jul. 30, 2026
One widely discussed explanation is that the intense pressure at greater depths would crush the air spaces used by insects for breathing.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 27, 2026
The toughness of these larvae suggests that pressure alone may not fully explain why insects never established themselves throughout the ocean.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 27, 2026
People in an area that hosts many important butterfly sites are being urged to take part in a nationwide survey to help scientists understand how this year's hot weather has affected the insects.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
The next day at school, Mr. Chang starts science class with a chapter on insects.
From "Free Lunch" by Rex Ogle
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.
