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lace·wing | \ ˈlās-ˌwiŋ 
\
\Definition of lacewing
: any of various neuropterous insects (such as genera Chrysopa and Hemerobius) having delicate lacelike wing venation, long antennae, and often brilliant eyes
— called also lacewing fly
Illustration of lacewing
Examples of lacewing in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web The tiny lacewings come packaged in a honeycomb of cardboard.
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Catalina Righter, baltimoresun.com/maryland/carroll, "Westminster releases 100,000 insects ... on purpose," 18 July 2019 Scientists suspect eyespots first evolved in Jurassic lacewings and then a second time in modern butterflies.
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Rachael Lallensack, Smithsonian, "Here Are 12 Things You Might Miss in the Smithsonian’s New Fossil Hall," 7 June 2019 To control these bugs: Wash plants with strong spray of water
Encourage native predators and parasites such as aphid midges, lacewings, and lady beetles
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The Editors, Good Housekeeping, "The 10 Most Destructive Garden Insects and How to Get Rid of Them," 10 July 2018 Commercially available beneficial insects, such as ladybugs, green lacewing and the spined soldier bug, will feed on pest eggs.
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The Editors Of Organic Life, Good Housekeeping, "How To Control Pesky Cucumber Beetles In Your Garden," 1 June 2017 Angelica, coreopsis, cosmos, and sweet alyssum will bring lacewings to your garden.
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The Editors Of Organic Life, Good Housekeeping, "10 Insects You Should Actually Want Around Your Plants," 11 May 2016 Lacewings Both adult lacewings and their larvae eat aphids, caterpillars, mealybugs, scales, thrips, and whiteflies.
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The Editors Of Organic Life, Good Housekeeping, "10 Insects You Should Actually Want Around Your Plants," 11 May 2016 Then the lacewing eats the stunned, farted-upon termite.
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Brian Resnick, Vox, "Farts: which animals do, which don’t, and why," 3 Apr. 2018 At the coloring book table were photos of a brown lacewing, a bug that Darwin collected on his expedition.
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Roger Showley, sandiegouniontribune.com, "Charles Darwin's birthday marked with cake, a live tortoise at Natural History Museum," 11 Feb. 2018
See MoreThese example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'lacewing.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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Time Traveler for lacewing
The first known use of lacewing was in 1912
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