insects
- 1Plural of insect.
Pollinating insects move pollen between flowers as they feed.
Researchers counted the insects trapped on each sticky card.
Note
A regular plural with a simple -s, and it carries every meaning of the singular. Strictly, insects have six legs. An older, broader usage also included spiders, centipedes and millipedes, so a biologist and a casual speaker may count differently. Before another noun the singular does the work: insect bites, insect repellent. Applied to people, the word is an insult for the contemptible or powerless.
insects is a form of insect
insect, noun: A six-legged arthropod with a hard outer skeleton and up to four wings, belonging to the class Insecta. Full entry
- Forms
- insectinsects plural
- Spelling
- insect → insects: add -s
- Sound
- The ending sounds like /s/.
Use it in a sentence
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