Transcription
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- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
- UK Pronunciation
- UK IPA
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- [gad-flahy]
- /ˈgædˌflaɪ/
- /ˈgædflaɪ/
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- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
-
- [gad-flahy]
- /ˈgædˌflaɪ/
Definitions of gadfly word
- noun plural gadfly any of various flies, as a stable fly or warble fly, that bite or annoy domestic animals. 1
- noun plural gadfly a person who persistently annoys or provokes others with criticism, schemes, ideas, demands, requests, etc. 1
- noun gadfly A fly that bites livestock, esp. a horsefly, warble fly, or botfly. 1
- noun gadfly irritant, troublemaker 1
- noun gadfly biting insect 1
- countable noun gadfly If you refer to someone as a gadfly, you believe that they deliberately annoy or challenge other people, especially people in authority. 0
Information block about the term
Origin of gadfly
First appearance:
before 1585 One of the 35% oldest English words
First recorded in 1585-95; gad2 + fly2
Historical Comparancy
Parts of speech for Gadfly
noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
gadfly popularity
A common word. It’s meaning is known to most children of preschool age. About 80% of English native speakers know the meaning and use the word.
This word is included in each student's vocabulary. Most likely there is at least one movie with this word in the title.
gadfly usage trend in Literature
This diagram is provided by Google Ngram ViewerSynonyms for gadfly
noun gadfly
- annoyance — Annoyance is the feeling that you get when someone makes you feel fairly angry or impatient.
- irritant — tending to cause irritation; irritating.
- pest — a city in and the capital of Hungary, in the central part, on the Danube River: formed 1873 from two cities on the W bank of the Danube (Buda and Obuda) and one on the E bank (Pest)
- prod — to poke or jab with or as if with something pointed: I prodded him with my elbow.
- spur — a batch of newly made rag-paper sheets.
Top questions with gadfly
- what is a gadfly?
- what is gadfly?
- what does gadfly mean?
- why does socrates compare himself to a gadfly?
- what is a political gadfly?
See also
Matching words
- Words starting with g
- Words starting with ga
- Words starting with gad
- Words starting with gadf
- Words starting with gadfl
- Words starting with gadfly