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ant
1[ ant ]
noun
- any of numerous black, red, brown, or yellow social insects of the family Formicidae, of worldwide distribution especially in warm climates, having a large head with inner jaws for chewing and outer jaws for carrying and digging, and living in highly organized colonies containing wingless female workers, a winged queen, and, during breeding seasons, winged males, some species being noted for engaging in warfare, slavemaking, or the cultivation of food sources.
an't
2[ ant, ahnt, eynt ]
- Chiefly British Dialect. contraction of am not.
- Dialect. ain't.
ant-
3- variant of anti- before a vowel or h: antacid; anthelmintic .
-ant
4- a suffix forming adjectives and nouns from verbs, occurring originally in French and Latin loanwords ( pleasant; constant; servant ) and productive in English on this model; -ant has the general sense “characterized by or serving in the capacity of ” that named by the stem ( ascendant; pretendant ), especially in the formation of nouns denoting human agents in legal actions or other formal procedures ( tenant; defendant; applicant; contestant ). In technical and commercial coinages, -ant is a suffix of nouns denoting impersonal physical agents ( propellant; lubricant; deodorant ). In general, -ant can be added only to bases of Latin origin, with a very few exceptions, as coolant .
ant.
5abbreviation for
- antenna
- antonym.
Ant.
6abbreviation for
- Antarctica.
ant-
1prefix
- a variant of anti-
antacid
ant
2/ ænt /
noun
- any small social insect of the widely distributed hymenopterous family Formicidae, typically living in highly organized colonies of winged males, wingless sterile females (workers), and fertile females (queens), which are winged until after mating See also army ant fire ant slave ant wood ant formic
- white antanother name for a termite
- have ants in one's pants slang.to be restless or impatient
-ant
4suffix forming adjectives
- causing or performing an action or existing in a certain condition; the agent that performs an action
protestant
pleasant
claimant
deodorant
servant
Other Words From
- antlike adjective
Word History and Origins
Origin of ant1
Word History and Origins
Origin of ant1
Origin of ant2
Idioms and Phrases
- have ants in one's pants, Slang. to be impatient or eager to act or speak.
Example Sentences
One bedroom previously had an ant infestation and was closed immediately.
There wasn’t a single bite I didn’t enjoy, from the baby corn with ant larvae to the mole Chef Olvera is known for.
In time Ricardo's dominance was challenged and overturned by William Whewell and Richard Jones, who had a very different understanding of science, captured by Francis Bacon's analogy of the ant, the spider and the bee.
In two back-to-back papers published in the journal Ecology, the Kobe University team published that B. subcupularis is pollinated by ants and camel crickets, which visit the plants for their pollen and nectar.
Most ants have two morphologically differentiated adult castes -- queens and workers -- each irreversibly specialized for either reproduction or nonreproductive altruism such as foraging, defense and care of maternal brood.
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Related Words
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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