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insecticide

/ɪnˈsɛktəˌsaɪd/
/ɪnˈsɛktɪsaɪd/
IPA guide

Other forms: insecticides

Insecticide is a type of chemical used to kill insects, like those that have infested a house or a farmer's crops.

Words that end in -cide usually have to do with killing, such as genocide, suicide, and patricide. Another is insecticide, which is a word for a substance that kills insects and bugs. Insecticide is a type of chemical, and it often consists of a powder or gas. If your house is full of bedbugs or cockroaches, you need insecticide. Farmers sometimes use insecticides to keep insects from destroying crops. If you're a bug, insecticide is bad news.

Definitions of insecticide
  1. noun
    a chemical used to kill insects
    synonyms: insect powder
    see moresee less
    types:
    pyrethrum
    made of dried flower heads of pyrethrum plants
    DDT, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane
    an insecticide that is also toxic to animals and humans; banned in the United States since 1972
    larvacide
    an insecticide that kills the larvae of insects
    lead arsenate
    a poisonous white solid (Pb3[AsO4]2) used as an insecticide
    lindane
    a white crystalline powder used as an agricultural insecticide
    Malathion
    a yellow insecticide used as a dust or spray to control garden pests and house flies and mites
    organophosphate
    an insecticide that interferes with an insect's nervous system
    parathion
    a colorless and odorless toxic oil used as an insecticide
    Paris green
    a toxic double salt of copper arsenate and copper acetate
    rotenone
    a white crystalline insecticide that has low toxicity for mammals; is used in home gardens; extracted from the roots of derris and cube
    chlorpyrifos
    a common organophosphate insecticide
    Kwell
    a preparation of lindane (trade name Kwell) that is used to kill lice and itch mites; available in cream or shampoo
    type of:
    pesticide
    a chemical used to kill pests (as rodents or insects)
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