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.

After discovery of three Mediterranean fruit flies, or medflies, in October, Los Angeles County officials dropped millions of sterile flies on a 9-square-mile area around Baldwin Hills to prevent an outbreak.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 25, 2024

The operation was kicked off after the discovery of three Mediterranean fruit flies, or medflies, last month.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 3, 2023

They were about half as successful as wild mosquitoes, which sounds poor, but is actually better than a lot of other modified insects, including the successful sterile medflies.

From Slate • Nov. 14, 2011

Wild female medflies don’t find laboratory-reared males as attractive as they find wild males.

From New York Times • Apr. 13, 2010

Malathion spraying, the agency argues, is a necessary supplement to "biotechnical control," which consists of releasing 140 million sterile male medflies weekly into infested areas to disrupt the insects' prodigious reproduction.

From Time Magazine Archive