CICADA (cicadae)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: cicadae   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does cicada mean? 

• CICADA (noun)
  The noun CICADA has 1 sense:

1. stout-bodied insect with large membranous wings; male has drum-like organs for producing a high-pitched drone

  Familiarity information: CICADA used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CICADA (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Stout-bodied insect with large membranous wings; male has drum-like organs for producing a high-pitched drone

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

cicada; cicala

Hypernyms ("cicada" is a kind of...):

homopteran; homopterous insect (insects having membranous forewings and hind wings)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "cicada"):

dog-day cicada; harvest fly (its distinctive song is heard during July and August)

Magicicada septendecim; periodical cicada; seventeen-year locust (North American cicada; appears in great numbers at infrequent intervals because the nymphs take 13 to 17 years to mature)

Holonyms ("cicada" is a member of...):

Cicadidae; family Cicadidae (cicadas)

 Context examples 

This is similar to the way bacteria are killed by the surface structure of the wings of the insect cicada.

(Nanopillars help orthopaedic implants resist infection, SciDev.Net)