parasitize
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
-
to infest or infect with parasites
-
to live on (another organism) as a parasite
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of parasitize
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.
"They parasitize the shells of bivalves like oysters, not the flesh of the animals themselves," said Nanglu.
From Science Daily • Nov. 5, 2025
To understand orca parasites, she had been trying to study organisms that parasitize salmon, a favorite orca prey that might pass the parasites along to the whales.
From Science Magazine • May 7, 2024
But many parasitologists like Wood focus on multicellular metazoans: animals that encompass hundreds of thousands of species, including up to 300,000 different types of worms that parasitize vertebrates alone.
From Scientific American • May 18, 2022
The birds sometimes raise their eggs in cooperative groups and sometimes parasitize other species’ nests.
From Nature • Feb. 24, 2019
Two roundworms were found to parasitize the guts of the salamanders; the parasitism looks to be benign.
From Natural History of the Salamander, Aneides hardii by Johnston, Richard F.
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.
