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pheromones

Cultural  

  1. Small molecules that, when released by one organism, act as chemical signals to induce a certain behavior in another organism. Scents that attract animals to each other in a mating process are an example of pheromones.

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.

"This keeps the whole group tight together. It's like Guardiola is the queen bee at Manchester City and has got the right pheromones going through his hive at the moment."

From BBC • Apr. 22, 2026

Once the beetle turns its own pheromones off, it can’t turn them back on.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 10, 2026

When the pioneer Spruce bark beetles find a suitable host tree they release pheromones - chemical signals to attract fellow beetles and establish a colony.

From BBC • Aug. 30, 2025

Foraging for resources is an essential process for the daily life of an ant colony, and ants will self-organize using chemical pheromones.

From Science Daily • Nov. 16, 2024

Whether there are other sorts of social communication by pheromones among primates is not known.

From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas

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.