The bee makes honey, which the drone devours. The wasp and the hornet molest with a sting: and especially cattle, so do the gadfly (breeze), the fly and the gnat.
Source: tatoeba (7355812)
Gadfly
//ˈɡædflaɪ//
Synonyms for "gadfly" (97 found)
Ranked by relevance and common usage.
Closest matches (20)
Strong matches (29)
Related words (48)
Related word relations
OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.
Translations
15 translations across 7 languages.
Danish
2 entries- provokatør noun (person who upsets the status quo by posing novel or upsetting questions, or attempts to stimulate innovation by being an irritant)
- urostifter noun (person who upsets the status quo by posing novel or upsetting questions, or attempts to stimulate innovation by being an irritant)
Finnish
2 entries- häirikkö noun (person who upsets the status quo by posing novel or upsetting questions, or attempts to stimulate innovation by being an irritant)
- piikittelijä noun (person or thing that irritates or instigates)
French
2 entries- casse-pieds noun (person or thing that irritates or instigates)
- empêcheur de tourner en rond noun (person who upsets the status quo by posing novel or upsetting questions, or attempts to stimulate innovation by being an irritant)
German
4 entries- Querulant noun (person or thing that irritates or instigates)
- Querulant noun (person who upsets the status quo by posing novel or upsetting questions, or attempts to stimulate innovation by being an irritant)
- Quälgeist noun (person or thing that irritates or instigates)
- Quälgeist noun (person who upsets the status quo by posing novel or upsetting questions, or attempts to stimulate innovation by being an irritant)
Persian
1 entries- خرمگس جمع noun (person who upsets the status quo by posing novel or upsetting questions, or attempts to stimulate innovation by being an irritant)
Spanish
1 entries- moscón noun (person or thing that irritates or instigates)
Turkish
1 entries- baş belası noun (person or thing that irritates or instigates)
Sample sentences
14 total sentences available.
What could be more normal for an ox stung by a gadfly to run away; but why did the donkey follow him?
Source: tatoeba (10055954)
He that made that ryme in jeſt, little conſidered what a gad-fly may doe in earneſt. It is ſmall wiſedome to contemne the ſmalleſt enemy; the gad-fly is a little creature, but ſome little creatures be ſtingers; […]
Source: wiktionary
Light fly his ſlumbers, if perchance a flight / Of angry gad-flies faſten on the herd; […]
Source: wiktionary
Showing 4 of 14 available sentences.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.