Parasite

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English

Noun

Parasite (plural Parasites)
  1. (biology) A (generally undesirable) living organism that exists by stealing the resources produced/collected by another living organism.
    Lice, fleas, ticks and mites are widely spread parasites.
  2. (pejorative) A person who relies on other people's efforts and gives little back (originally a sycophant).

Antonyms

Related terms

Adjectives for Parasite

harmless; business; tiny; formidable; smiling; smooth; detested; destructive; plant; social.

Verbs for Parasite

breed—; detest—; infest with —s; maintain —; nourish—; plague by —s; serve—; tend —; —absorbs; —attaches; —burrows into; —draws; —exacts; —fattens on; —flatters; —frequents; —lodges in; —penetrates; — robs; —sucks; —depends on.

Thesaurus

adherent, algae, appendage, attendance, attendant, autophyte, barnacle, bean, beat, bedbug, beggar, bloodsucker, body of retainers, bracken, brown algae, buff, bummer, cadger, cat flea, cavaliere servente, chigoe, climber, cockroach, cohort, conferva, confervoid, cortege, coupon clippers, court, courtier, crab, creeper, dangler, deadbeat, dependent, diatom, disciple, dog flea, drone, entourage, fan, fern, flea, flunky, follower, following, freeloader, fruits and vegetables, fucus, fungus, grapevine, grayback, green algae, gulfweed, hanger-on, henchman, herb, heterophyte, homme de cour, hyena, idle rich, idler, ivy, jackal, jigger, kelp, laze, leech, legume, leisure class, lentil, liana, lichen, liverwort, lounge lizard, louse, lumpen proletariat, mendicant, mite, mold, moocher, mosquito, moss, mushroom, nit, nonworker, panhandler, parasitic plant, parasitize, partisan, pea, perthophyte, phytoplankton, planktonic algae, plant families, public, puffball, pulse, pursuer, pursuivant, red algae, red bug, rentiers, retinue, roach, rockweed, rout, rust, sand flea, saprophyte, sargasso, sargassum, satellite, scrounge, scrounger, sea lentil, sea moss, sea wrack, seaweed, sectary, shadow, smell-feast, smut, spiv, sponge, sponger, stooge, successor, succulent, sucker, suite, supporter, tagtail, tail, the unemployable, the unemployed, tick, toadstool, train, trainbearer, vermin, vetch, vine, votary, ward heeler, weevil, wood tick, wort, wrack

Etymology

From Latin parasitus < Ancient Greek παράσιτος (parasitos, “person who eats at the table of another”) < noun use of adjective meaning "feeding beside" < παρά (para, “beside”) + σῖτος (sitos, “food”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈpærəˌsaɪt/

Translations

(generally undesirable) living organism that exists by stealing resources from another living organism
useless person who always relies on other people's work and gives nothing back
The translations below need to be checked.
Translations to be checked

See also

References

  • “Parasite” in the Online Etymology Dictionary, Douglas Harper, 2001

Anagrams

Latin

Noun

parasīte

  1. vocative singular of parasītus
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