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:
When I’m futzing in the garden or hiking, I wear socks, pants and shirts permeated with the tick-killing insecticide permethrin.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 4, 2026
When Roden-Reynolds conducts tick surveys, he wears clothing permeated with the tick-killing insecticide permethrin.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 4, 2026
Developing a practical formulation could make a major difference because successfully controlling drywood termites requires more than simply having an insecticide that kills them.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 19, 2026
They then treated the property with a high-potency insecticide.
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026
The bag had once contained an insecticide called parathion, one of the organic phosphates; tests established death by parathion poisoning.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
"By applying the insecticides, that's when they started falling out of conduit pipes, literally coming out of plug sockets, out of the toasters, out of the back of microwave ovens," he said.
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026
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
To treat a screwworm infection, DeNotta said, people undergo the same combination of wound debridement and insecticides used in animals.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2026
The chemicals shown to damage gut bacteria include pesticides such as herbicides and insecticides commonly applied to crops.
From Science Daily ● Jan. 5, 2026
The Department of Agriculture’s Yearbook for 1952, devoted entirely to insects, recognizes the fact that insects become resistant but says, “More applications or greater quantities of the insecticides are needed then for adequate control.”
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
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