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View synonyms for gnat

gnat

[ nat ]

noun

  1. any of certain small flies, especially the biting gnats or punkies of the family Ceratopogonidae, the midges of the family Chironomidae, and the black flies of the family Simuliidae.
  2. British. mosquito.


gnat

/ næt /

noun

  1. any of various small fragile biting dipterous insects of the suborder Nematocera, esp Culex pipiens ( common gnat ), which abounds near stagnant water


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Derived Forms

  • ˈgnatˌlike, adjective

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Other Words From

  • gnatlike adjective

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Word History and Origins

Origin of gnat1

before 900; Middle English; Old English gnæt ( t ); cognate with German (dial.) Gnatze

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Word History and Origins

Origin of gnat1

Old English gnætt; related to Middle High German gnaz scurf, German dialect Gnitze gnat

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Idioms and Phrases

Idioms
  1. strain at a gnat and swallow a camel, to fuss about trifles while ignoring more serious matters.

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Example Sentences

A combination of essential oils initially didn’t seem like it would offer the strongest protection, but after taking it with me on backpacking trips and marveling at its ability to protect me from gnats at the beach, I’m convinced.

Swarms of gnats worked the sunlight and bass boats spun past on the current below us.

Some kind of fly, gnit, gnat, tick or flea of some kind...the desert kind.

He recently tweeted that a certain Post reporter is “a sleazy, from-under-a-rock tab gnat.”

JASON ( swatting an imaginary gnat): Hope over fear... What a crock.

Dun Gnat—from inside wing feather of a Landrail and fawn coloured silk—cypher hook.

The Black Gnat—dubbed with black mohair, the wings of the lightest part of a starling.

Little Black Gnat—dubbed with black strands from an ostrich, wings, light feather from underneath starling's wing.

My, it was a feast that made his eyes open and his stomach swell like a toad's trying to swallow a gnat.

When once this Gnat had disappeared—and the life of the Mosquito is not a long one—the bird would die of starvation.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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gnash one's teethgnatcatcher