| English Dictionary |
GADFLY
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| IPA (US): |  |
Dictionary entry overview: What does gadfly mean?
• GADFLY (noun)
The noun GADFLY has 2 senses:
1. a persistently annoying person
2. any of various large flies that annoy livestock
Familiarity information: GADFLY used as a noun is rare.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
A persistently annoying person
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Synonyms:
blighter; cuss; gadfly; pest; pesterer
Hypernyms ("gadfly" is a kind of...):
persecutor; tormenter; tormentor (someone who torments)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "gadfly"):
nudnick; nudnik ((Yiddish) someone who is a boring pest)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Any of various large flies that annoy livestock
Classified under:
Nouns denoting animals
Hypernyms ("gadfly" is a kind of...):
fly (two-winged insects characterized by active flight)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "gadfly"):
botfly (stout-bodied hairy dipterous fly whose larvae are parasites on humans and other mammals)
warble fly (hairy bee-like fly whose larvae produce lumpy abscesses (warbles) under the skin of cattle)
cleg; clegg; horse fly; horsefly (large swift fly the female of which sucks blood of various animals)
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