Pesticide

//ˈpɛstɪsaɪd// noun

noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Anything, especially a synthetic substance but also any substance (e.g. sulfur), or virus, bacterium, or other organism, which kills or suppresses the activities of pests. countable, uncountable

    "“Twelve pesticides commonly applied to citrus groves are slated for study in the project’s plots,” reports Tom S. Bellows, UC Riverside assistant entomologist. They include four acaricides (Morestan, Kelthane, Pictran, Vendex), four thripsicides (Cygon, Carzol, Orthene, Sabadilla), and four scalicides (Parathion, Supracide, Lorsban, Sevin)."

  2. 2
    a chemical used to kill pests (as rodents or insects) wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
aborticideacaricideanthelminticantibioticantisepticapache

Example

More examples

"She sprayed pesticide on the flowers."

Etymology

From pest + -i- + -cide.

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