noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   An insect of the suborder Epiprocta or, more strictly, the infraorder Anisoptera, having four long transparent wings held perpendicular to a long body when perched.

   "There were two dragonflies in the garden today."

2. 2
   slender-bodied non-stinging insect having iridescent wings that are outspread at rest; adults and nymphs feed on mosquitoes etc. wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

darning needledevil's darning needlemosquito hawkskeeter hawksnake doctorsnake feeder

Example

More examples

"There is a dragonfly on the ceiling."

Etymology

From dragon + fly. Compare drakefly (“mayfly”).

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.