Meanings
- uncountableagricultureA mysterious and widespread phenomenon of the sudden disappearance of colonies of bees.
As many as a quarter of the nation's commercially kept bees went missing last year, presumed dead, in a phenomenon now called colony collapse disorder.
2007 May 12, “Mysterious Honeybee Deaths”, in Houston Chronicle1 more example
Interaction among multiple pathogens and parasites is the proposed cause for Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), a syndrome characterized by worker bees abandoning the hive. Here we provide the first documentation that the phorid fly Apocephalus borealis, previously known to parasitize bumble bees, also infects and eventually kills honey bees and may pose an emerging threat to North American apiculture.
2012 January 3, Andrew Core, Charles Runckel, Jonathan Ivers, Christopher Quock, Travis Siapno, Seraphina DeNault, Brian Brown, Joseph DeRisi, Christopher D. Smith, John Hafernik, “A New Threat to Honey Bees, the Parasitic Phorid Fly Apocephalus borealis”, in PLOS, →DOI
Translations
Chinese Mandarin 蜂群崩潰失調病 /蜂群崩溃失调病
- 蜂群崩潰失調病 /蜂群崩溃失调病 (fēngqún bēngkuì shītiáo bìng)apicultural phenomenon
French syndrome d'effondrement des colonies d'abeilles
- syndrome d'effondrement des colonies d'abeillesapicultural phenomenon
Russian синдро́м разруше́ния пчели́ных семе́й
- синдро́м разруше́ния пчели́ных семе́й (sindróm razrušénija pčelínyx seméj)apicultural phenomenon
Cite this entry
colony collapse disorder. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/colony%20collapse%20disorder
“colony collapse disorder.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/colony%20collapse%20disorder. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “colony collapse disorder,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/colony%20collapse%20disorder.
Source: colony collapse disorder on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.