: any of numerous social or solitary winged hymenopterous insects (especially families Sphecidae and Vespidae) that usually have a slender smooth body with the abdomen attached by a narrow stalk, well-developed wings, biting mouthparts, and in the females and workers an often formidable sting, and that are largely carnivorous and often provision their nests with insects or spiders killed or paralyzed by stinging for their larvae to feed on compare bee
2
: any of various hymenopterous insects (such as a chalcid or ichneumon wasp) other than wasps with larvae that are parasitic on other arthropods
Noun (2)
Most of the members of the club are wealthy WASPs.
The college had been known as a bastion of WASP privilege.
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Noun
Cue this bug zapper—it’s made with a 4200-voltage blue-violet light and a plastic surrounding cage to attract and effectively trap pesky critters like mosquitos, gnats, moths, wasps, flies, and more.—Alicia Geigel, Southern Living, 7 July 2025 Some might be surprised to learn that there are actually more than 30,000 wasp species.—Gabrielle Chenault, The Tennessean, 2 July 2025 Between 2011 and 2021, an average of 72 deaths per year came from hornets, wasps and bee stings, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.—Natalie Demaree, Miami Herald, 1 July 2025 While bees are the main pollinator of plants, there are other organisms that augment pollination, namely butterflies, hummingbirds, flies, wasps, bats and beetles.—The San Diego Union Tribune, San Diego Union-Tribune, 14 June 2025 See All Example Sentences for wasp
Word History
Etymology
Noun (1)
Middle English waspe, from Old English wæps, wæsp; akin to Old High German wafsa wasp, Latin vespa wasp
Noun (2)
white Anglo-Saxon Protestant
First Known Use
Noun (1)
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1
: any of numerous winged insects related to the bees and ants that have a slender body with the abdomen attached by a narrow stalk and that in females and workers are usually capable of giving a very painful sting
WASP
2 of 2noun
variants or Wasp
: an American of northern European and Protestant background—sometimes used disparagingly
: any of numerous social or solitary winged insects (especially families Sphecidae and Vespidae) of the order Hymenoptera that usually have a slender smooth body with the abdomen attached by a narrow stalk, well-developed wings, biting mouthparts, and in the females and workers an often formidable sting
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