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Definition of mosquito
mosquitoes
alsomosquitos
: 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
From the M-W Editors
Recent Examples of mosquito from the Web
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The city last year increased its mosquito-control budget by 33 percent.
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Whether there’s a favorable habitat for the mosquito that carries the malaria parasite, but the other piece there is the malaria parasite itself and how temperature influences the sort of life cycle of the parasite.
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A planned release of mosquitoes in the Florida Keys also received a green light from the USDA, though local opposition has stalled that experiment.
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But various groups are planning to use gene drives in the wild, to render mosquitoes resistant to malaria or to control invasive rats on islands.
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Fight the Bite: The Shaker Heights Health Department is holding an art contest in which youngsters are challenged to create a work that raises awareness about the importance of protection from mosquito bites.
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Mosquitoes carrying the West Nile virus have been found in Marion County, according to the public health department.
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Canada was a massive land in a hard climate, frozen for half of the year and mosquito-infested for the other half.
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Bats vacuum up mosquitoes, eat moths and other insects that harm crops, and even pollinate fruits like bananas and agave, which is used to produce tequila.
These 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.
Illustration of mosquito
Origin and Etymology of mosquito
Spanish, diminutive of mosca fly, from Latin musca — more at midge
MOSQUITO Defined for English Language Learners
mosquito
playDefinition of mosquito for English Language Learners
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: a small flying insect that bites the skin of people and animals and sucks their blood
MOSQUITO Defined for Kids
mosquito
playDefinition of mosquito for Students
mosquitoes
: a small fly the female of which punctures the skin of people and animals to suck their blood
Medical Dictionary
mosquito
playMedical Definition of mosquito
mosquitoes
alsomosquitos
: 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
Illustration of mosquito
Learn More about mosquito
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Spanish Central: Translation of mosquito Nglish: Translation of mosquito for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of mosquito for Arabic speakers Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about mosquito
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