pesticide
Americannoun
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pesticides
plural
noun
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A chemical used to kill harmful animals or plants. Pesticides are used especially in agriculture and around areas where humans live. Some are harmful to humans, either from direct contact or as residue on food, or are harmful to the environment because of their high toxicity, such as DDT (which is now banned in many countries). Pesticides include fungicides, herbicides, insecticides, and rodenticides.
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See more at fungicide herbicide insecticide
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of pesticide
Explanation
A pesticide is a bug-killing poison. You may have to resort to using a pesticide to battle the ants that have invaded your kitchen, even if you hate killing any creature. Pesticides are most often used to ward off insects or small animals living uninvited in a person's house, or in a garden or on a farm, when they are nibbling on plants or flowers. The Latin suffix cide means "killer," and in pesticide, it's combined with the English word pest, which means just what it sounds like — a troublesome annoyance.
Vocabulary lists containing pesticide
Earth Science - Middle School
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Earth Science: Natural Resources and the Environment
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Earth Day
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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:
In California’s Sacramento Valley, a grower was cited for multiple pesticide safety violations in a stone fruit orchard.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026
In June, the Department of Pesticide Regulation unveiled proposed changes to state pesticide regulations.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026
California, unlike other states, has a split system of pesticide oversight.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026
In 2023, a federal audit flagged serious pesticide incidents in half a dozen counties and uncovered patchwork oversight by agricultural commissioners.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026
The pesticide threat to fishes may be divided into three parts.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
But drought, pesticides and habitat destruction triggered an unprecedented collapse that began in 2017, eventually wiping out an estimated 99.5 percent of the Bogong moth population.
From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026
In one county, for instance, an agricultural commissioner fined a farmer $2,000 for failing to provide safety training for workers who applied pesticides in fields.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026
And it is difficult to control with pesticides.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 19, 2026
Whenever it rains, water rushes down streets and sidewalks — picking up any trash, pesticides, dog poop and other fecal matter in its way.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2026
A Who’s Who of pesticides is therefore of concern to us all.
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.
