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View synonyms for cockroach

cockroach

[ kok-rohch ]

noun

  1. any of numerous orthopterous insects of the family Blattidae, characterized by a flattened body, rapid movements, and nocturnal habits and including several common household pests.


cockroach

/ ˈkɒkˌrəʊtʃ /

noun

  1. any insect of the suborder Blattodea (or Blattaria ), such as Blatta orientalis ( oriental cockroach or black beetle ): order Dictyoptera . See also German cockroach mantis


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Word History and Origins

Origin of cockroach1

1615–25; < Spanish cucaracha, of uncertain origin, assimilated by folk etymology to cock 1, roach 2

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Word History and Origins

Origin of cockroach1

C17: from Spanish cucaracha, of obscure origin

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Example Sentences

She suffered no more beatings—just solitary confinement in an underground cell always dark and dank and cockroach-infested.

It was also full of s--t, a coach scrambling like a cockroach.

Cockroach begins with a failed suicide attempt by the protagonist.

It has been, for Dobbs, a Kafka-like metamorphosis from WASPy establishmentarian to angry-populist cockroach.

Some who would face a mad bull coolly enough spring with disgust from a cockroach or a centipede.

The earthworm, the cockroach, and the bed-bug are regarded as peculiarly disgusting, and all have a particularly offensive odour.

Captain Downs bestowed on Mayo about the same attention he would have allowed to a galley cockroach.

Alluding to the fact that the cockroach likes to eat other roaches, he said why not breed a roach that wouldn't eat anything else?

But when England began trading with the Orient, the cockroach grew venturesome, and began putting to sea as a stowaway.

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tortuous

[tawr-choo-uhs ]

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