parasitical

parasite (ˈpærəˌsaɪt)

—n
1.	an animal or plant that lives in or on another (the host) from which it obtains nourishment. The host does not benefit from the association and is often harmed by it
2.	a person who habitually lives at the expense of others; sponger
3.	(formerly) a sycophant

[C16: via Latin from Greek parasitos one who lives at another's expense, from para-¹ + sitos grain]

parasitic

—*adj*

para'sitical

—*adj*

para'sitically

—*adv*

parasite (ˈpærəˌsaɪt)

—n
1.	an animal or plant that lives in or on another (the host) from which it obtains nourishment. The host does not benefit from the association and is often harmed by it
2.	a person who habitually lives at the expense of others; sponger
3.	(formerly) a sycophant

[C16: via Latin from Greek parasitos one who lives at another's expense, from para-¹ + sitos grain]

parasitic

—*adj*

para'sitical

—*adj*

para'sitically

—*adv*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

parasitic par·a·sit·ic (pār'ə-sĭt'ĭk) or par·a·sit·i·cal (-ĭ-kəl)
adj.

Of, relating to, or characteristic of a parasite.
Caused by a parasite.

Example sentences

Wild turkeys are subject to many infectious and non-infectious diseases and parasitical infections.

Vaccinations to prevent infectious, microbiology, viral or parasitical diseases if necessary.

Many brandies and parasitical plants had been snapped off and were strewn on the ground.

While theoretical values are valuable, in practice considerable additional parasitical losses occur.

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Matching Quote

"Byron's revealing line, "And if I laugh at any mortal thing, 'Tis that I may not weep," suggests that the comic sense is parasitical upon the tragic. In order to avoid our tragic encounters with the transitoriness of passing fact, the fading of beauty, the destructive consequences of moral evil, alienation from the primary source of value, we make fun. The making of fun where no real occasion for fun exists is essentially what comedy is about. Tragedy and comedy are, indeed, but two masks worn by the same character alternately, depending on the exigencies of the moment; that is, depending upon which mask best represents him in such a way as successfully to reduce the unacceptable tensions of his ambience. Thus the obvious truth of Socrates' argument at the end of the Symposium. Both tragedy and comedy are but one-sided expressions of the ironic sensibility."

-David L. Hall

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