adulticide

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noun

A pesticide designed to kill adult insects rather than their larvae.

OriginEnglish adult ← French adulte ← Latin adultu →
Scrabble 14
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Meanings

nounadulticide (plural adulticides)

plural adulticides

  1. A pesticide designed to kill adult insects rather than their larvae.
verbadulticide (third-person singular simple present adulticides, present participle adulticiding, simple past and past participle adulticided)

present singular third person adulticides · participle present adulticiding · participle past adulticided · past adulticided

  1. transitiveTo treat with adulticide.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₂éd
  2. Proto-Italic*ad
  3. Proto-Italic*ad-
  4. Latinad-
  5. Proto-Indo-European*h₂el-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*h₂oléyeti
  7. Proto-Italic*oleō
  8. Latin*oleō
  9. Latinolēscō
  10. Latinadolēscō
  11. Latinadultu
  12. Frenchadulte
  13. Englishadult
  14. Englishadulticide

From adult + -icide.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

French adulticide
  • adulticidepesticide designed to kill adult insects
Malay adultisid
  • adultisidpesticide designed to kill adult insects
Portuguese adulticida
  • adulticidapesticide designed to kill adult insects

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

dilucidate
Cite this entry
APA

adulticide. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/adulticide

MLA

“adulticide.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/adulticide. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “adulticide,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/adulticide.

Source: adulticide on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.