cicada

noun ci·ca·da \ sə-ˈkā-də , -ˈkä- ; sī-ˈkā- \

|Updated on: 3 May 2018

Definition of cicada

plural cicadas also cicadae play \-ˈkā-(ˌ)dē, -ˈkä-\

: any of a family (Cicadidae) of homopterous insects which have a stout body, wide blunt head, and large transparent wings and the males of which produce a loud buzzing noise usually by stridulation

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Recent Examples of cicada from the Web

These insect parents resemble tiny cicadas, with transparent wings held over their bodies as mini-roofs.

— margaret lauterbach, idahostatesman, "Cool, rainy spring prompts alert for fire blight on Valley trees, plants | Idaho Statesman," 26 Apr. 2018
The nature of his wound was the clock-cicada winding down.

— richard sandomir, New York Times, "Lucie Brock-Broido, Inventive Poet, Is Dead at 61," 10 Mar. 2018
The first sound is a cicada’s piercing shrill, which violently cuts out mid-chirp.

— carlos valladares, San Francisco Chronicle, "Argentine director Lucrecia Martel to attend Berkeley retrospective of her work," 16 Apr. 2018
There are those who drift off by instructing their Amazon Alexa or Google Home to play recordings of babbling brooks and cicadas.

— stephanie rosenbloom, New York Times, "Tools for Sleeping Well While Traveling," 30 Mar. 2018
The cacophony of Shahid’s cries and the cicada drone almost felled me.

— sorayya khan, Longreads, "The Cities in Me," 8 Feb. 2018
And understandably so: To their many detractors, redistricting consultants surface every 10 years, cicada-like, to ravage the landscape of minority parties in state legislatures and Congress.

— michael wines, New York Times, "Just How Bad Is Partisan Gerrymandering? Ask the Mapmakers," 29 Jan. 2018
Different species—there are some 3,000 cicada species in total—have different frequencies and patterns, enabling them to tell each other apart.

— liz langley, National Geographic, "This Bug's Penis Is a Built-In Violin," 7 Oct. 2017
There are certain sounds that are distinctly Southern, like the hum of cicadas or the rumble of hot thunder every afternoon in the summer.

— katherine owen, Southern Living, "8 Things Only Girls with Southern Accents Understand," 13 Sep. 2016

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'cicada.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

Members of a family of insects, cicadas have a stout body, wide blunt head, two pairs of transparent wings, prominent compound eyes, and three simple eyes. Most of the 1,500 known species are found in tropical deserts, grasslands, and forests. Males produce loud noises by vibrating membranes near the base of the abdomen. Most North. American cicadas produce rhythmical ticks, buzzes, or whines, though the "song" of some species is musical. Periodic cicadas, including the well-known 17-year cicada (often erroneously called the 17-year locust) and 13-year cicada appear in regular cycles. Their larvae burrow into the ground, where they remain for 13 or 17 years, feeding on juices sucked from roots. Then they emerge in large numbers to live aboveground as adults for a single week.