Firefly

//ˈfaɪ.əˌflaɪ// name, noun

name, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Any beetle of the family Lampyridae, which exhibit bioluminescence during twilight. Florida, Northern-US, US, Western

    "2000, Exploring Life Science, 2: Bats—Cave Life, Marshall Cavendish, page 96, Fireflies are the best-known insects that produce light. […] Many fireflies use their light to communicate, particularly at mating time when males and females have to get together."

  2. 2
    nocturnal beetle common in warm regions having luminescent abdominal organs wordnet
  3. 3
    tropical American click beetle having bright luminous spots wordnet
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A locality in the MidCoast council area, eastern New South Wales, Australia.

Synonyms

All synonyms
lightning buglightning bugbeetleblinkblinkingcandle fly

Example

More examples

"Have you ever even seen a firefly?"

Etymology

From fire + fly, because the insects glow; whence also lightning bug. Compare glow fly, glowworm, and lanternfly.

Related phrases

femme fatale fireflyfirefly squid

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