mosquito
noun
mos·qui·to
| \ mə-ˈskē-(ˌ)tō
\
\
plural mosquitoes
also mosquitos
Definition of mosquito
: any of a family (Culicidae) of dipteran flies with females that have a set of slender organs in the proboscis adapted to puncture the skin of animals and to suck their blood and that are in some cases vectors of serious diseases
Illustration of mosquito
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Other Words from mosquito
mosquitoey
\ mə-ˈskē-tə-wē
\
adjective
\
adjective
Examples of mosquito in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Even the amount of carbon dioxide, or CO2, a person exhales can attract more mosquitoes. — Elizabeth King, Allure, "Why Mosquitos Bite Some People More Than Others," 8 Aug. 2019 The aerosol droplets from the spray kill mosquitoes on contact in the air. — Maria Lovato, BostonGlobe.com, "22 communities at high risk from mosquito-borne virus; Mass. to spray insecticide," 6 Aug. 2019 The Department will spray pesticide to target mosquitoes if persistent West Nile virus activity is detected. — Fox News, "New York City sees first West Nile-infected mosquitoes this season, health department says," 25 July 2019 Middle schoolers chased rebounds on an outdoor basketball court as two young men sat wrenching on a four-wheeler, fanning mosquitoes. — Kyle Hopkins, ProPublica, "The Village Where Every Cop Has Been Convicted of Domestic Violence," 18 July 2019 Leslie Schreiber with the Game and Fish Department says recent wet weather could encourage mosquitoes that can transmit West Nile to sage grouse. — USA TODAY, "Crystal Cathedral reborn Catholic, 'Conjuring' house, Wiki ‘editathon’: News from around our 50 states," 11 July 2019 The organization recommends using products with DEET, picadarin, IR3535, oil of lemon eucalyptus, or 2-undecanone to keep mosquitoes at bay. — Tainaya Nash, House Beautiful, "People Swear By These Mosquito Sticks to Stay Bug Bite-Free," 25 June 2019 By harnessing this technique, scientists could (say) genetically modify mosquitoes to only produce male offspring — and then use gene drive to push that trait through an entire population. — Brad Plumer, Vox, "A simple guide to CRISPR, one of the biggest science stories of the decade," 23 July 2018 In Africa, the concern is that discarded plastic bags also pool water that can breed disease-causing mosquitoes. — Alessandra Potenza, The Verge, "Are cotton totes better for the Earth than plastic bags? It depends on what you care about," 12 May 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'mosquito.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for mosquito
mosquito
noun
English Language Learners Definition of mosquito
: a small flying insect that bites the skin of people and animals and sucks their blood
See the full definition for mosquito in the English Language Learners Dictionary
mosquito
noun
mos·qui·to
| \ mə-ˈskē-tō
\
\
plural mosquitoes
Kids Definition of mosquito
: a small fly the female of which punctures the skin of people and animals to suck their blood
mosquito
noun
mos·qui·to
| \ mə-ˈskēt-(ˌ)ō, -ə(-w)
\
\
plural mosquitoes
also mosquitos
Medical Definition of mosquito
: any of numerous dipteran flies of the family Culicidae that have a rather narrow abdomen, usually a long slender rigid proboscis, and narrow wings with a fringe of scales on the margin and usually on each side of the wing veins, that have in the male broad feathery antennae and mouthparts not fitted for piercing and in the female slender antennae and a set of needlelike organs in the proboscis with which they puncture the skin of animals to suck the blood, that lay their eggs on the surface of stagnant water, that include many species which pass through several generations in the course of a year and hibernate as adults or winter in the egg state, and that include some species which are the only vectors of certain diseases — see aedes, anopheles, culex
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