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termite
[tur-mahyt]
noun
any of numerous pale-colored, soft-bodied, chiefly tropical social insects, of the order Isoptera, that feed on wood, some being highly destructive to buildings, furniture, etc.
termite
/ ˈtɜːmaɪt, tɜːˈmɪtɪk /
noun
Also called: white ant. any whitish ant-like social insect of the order Isoptera, of warm and tropical regions. Some species feed on wood, causing damage to furniture, buildings, trees, etc
termite
Any of various pale-colored insects of the order Isoptera that live in large colonies and feed on wood. Termites resemble ants in their appearance, manner of living, and social organization, but are not closely related. Termites can be very destructive to wooden buildings and structures.
Also called isopteran
Other Word Forms
- termitic adjective
Word History and Origins
Origin of termite1
Word History and Origins
Origin of termite1
Example Sentences
In 1960, during her first year at Gombe, Goodall observed a chimpanzee she called David Greybeard carefully strip a twig of leaves and use it to root out tasty termites from a mound.
The chimp took a twig, bent and stripped it of its leaves, then he poked it into a termite's nest.
She picked up the abandoned grass stalk, stuck it into the same hole and pulled it out to find it covered with termites.
That year, she became the first person to record witnessing an animal using a tool - a large male chimpanzee, who she had named David Greybeard, digging termites out of a mound with a stick.
Its so-called institutions, among them our nation’s increasingly threadbare 18th-century Constitution, are visibly crumbling, as if eaten away from within by an army of persistent termites.
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