DRAGONFLY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does dragonfly mean? 

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

1. slender-bodied non-stinging insect having iridescent wings that are outspread at rest; adults and nymphs feed on mosquitoes etc.

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

 Dictionary entry details 

• DRAGONFLY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Slender-bodied non-stinging insect having iridescent wings that are outspread at rest; adults and nymphs feed on mosquitoes etc.

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

darning needle; devil's darning needle; dragonfly; mosquito hawk; sewing needle; skeeter hawk; snake doctor; snake feeder

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

odonate (large primitive predatory aquatic insect having two pairs of membranous wings)

 Context examples 

Long, glinting dragonflies shot across the path, or hung tremulous with gauzy wings and gleaming bodies.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A taxonomic class of arthropods that includes praying mantises, dragonflies, grasshoppers, true bugs, flies, bees, wasps, ants, butterflies, moths, and beetles.

(Insect, NCI Thesaurus)