insecticide

/ɪnˌsɛktəˈsaɪd/

/ɪnˈsɛktɪsaɪd/

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

   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)