parasitoid

noun

par·​a·​sit·​oid ˈper-ə-sə-ˌtȯid 

-ˌsī-,

ˈpa-rə-

: an insect and especially a wasp that completes its larval development within the body of another insect eventually killing it and is free-living as an adult

parasitoid adjective

Examples of parasitoid in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

However, the sugars in a molasses spray caused an increase of beneficial insects such as adult lacewings, lady beetles, weevil parasitoids, big-eyed bugs, minute pirate bugs, and adult hover flies. —Mary Marlowe Leverette, Southern Living, 24 May 2025

The flowers also attract tachinid flies, an important parasitoid of cucumber beetles, which can be quite devastating to cucumber plants. —Kim Toscano, Southern Living, 15 Apr. 2025

These predators and parasitoids prey upon a variety of small-bodied garden pests such as aphids, whiteflies, insect eggs, and young caterpillars. —Kim Toscano, Southern Living, 15 Apr. 2025

Attracting Beneficial Insects Nature supplies its own form of pest control through predators and parasitoids. —Kim Toscano, Southern Living, 5 Apr. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1914, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

parasitoid

1 of 2 adjective

par·​a·​sit·​oid ˈpar-ə-sə-ˌtȯid  -ˌsīt-ˌȯid 

1

: resembling a parasite

2

: being a parasitoid

parasitoid

2 of 2 noun

: an insect and especially a wasp that completes its larval development within the body of another insect which it eventually kills and that is free-living as an adult