: any of numerous social or solitary winged hymenopterous insects (especially families Sphecidae and Vespidae) that usually have a slender smooth body with the abdomen attached by a narrow stalk, well-developed wings, biting mouthparts, and in the females and workers an often formidable sting, and that are largely carnivorous and often provision their nests with insects or spiders killed or paralyzed by stinging for their larvae to feed on compare bee
2
: any of various hymenopterous insects (such as a chalcid or ichneumon wasp) other than wasps with larvae that are parasitic on other arthropods
Noun (2)
Most of the members of the club are wealthy WASPs.
The college had been known as a bastion of WASP privilege.
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Bees, wasps, and yellowjackets—with their infernal stings—are similarly creatures of the summer.—Jeffrey Kluger, TIME, 24 May 2024 Only ground-nesting yellowjacket wasps, which act quite differently than ground-nesting bees and solitary wasps, might warrant concern.—Miri Talabac, Baltimore Sun, 11 Apr. 2024 So the wasp comes, puts loads of larvae inside of the caterpillars.—Elizabeth A. Harris, New York Times, 13 May 2024 Still other mitigation efforts include introducing non-native predators of the emerald ash borer, such as stingless wasps.—Gaby Vinick, ABC News, 13 May 2024 See all Example Sentences for wasp
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'wasp.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Noun (1)
Middle English waspe, from Old English wæps, wæsp; akin to Old High German wafsa wasp, Latin vespa wasp
Noun (2)
white Anglo-Saxon Protestant
First Known Use
Noun (1)
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1
: any of numerous winged insects related to the bees and ants that have a slender body with the abdomen attached by a narrow stalk and that in females and workers are usually capable of giving a very painful sting
WASP
2 of 2noun
variants or Wasp
: an American of northern European and Protestant background—sometimes used disparagingly
: any of numerous social or solitary winged insects (especially families Sphecidae and Vespidae) of the order Hymenoptera that usually have a slender smooth body with the abdomen attached by a narrow stalk, well-developed wings, biting mouthparts, and in the females and workers an often formidable sting
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