1
: short-horned grasshopper
especially
: a migratory grasshopper often traveling in vast swarms and stripping the areas passed of all vegetation
2
: cicada
3
a
: any of various leguminous trees: such as
(1)
(2)
(3)
b
: the wood of a locust tree
Examples of locust in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
In political cartoons from the turn of the 20th century, Eastern European and Jewish immigrants were depicted as rats, while Chinese immigrants were portrayed as a horde of grasshoppers – echoing imagery from Revelation, where locusts with human faces swarm the Earth.
—
Yii-Jan Lin, The Conversation, 23 Oct. 2024
The finding, published in September in the journal Ecology, could contribute to efforts to reduce the use of pesticides while trying to protect agricultural crops from locusts.
—Gennaro Tomma, New York Times, 2 Oct. 2024
Otherwise, butterfly larvae would be like locusts, like a plague.
—Outside Online, 9 Oct. 2024
The night sky is packed with numbers, all being fed into
a piece of furniture
like a flickering cabinet
holding the energy of a locust swarm, stripping Somalia bare in half an hour.
—Tomas Tranströmer, The New Yorker, 7 Oct. 2024
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Yii-Jan Lin, The Conversation, 23 Oct. 2024
The finding, published in September in the journal Ecology, could contribute to efforts to reduce the use of pesticides while trying to protect agricultural crops from locusts.
—Gennaro Tomma, New York Times, 2 Oct. 2024
Otherwise, butterfly larvae would be like locusts, like a plague.
—Outside Online, 9 Oct. 2024
The night sky is packed with numbers, all being fed into
a piece of furniture
like a flickering cabinet
holding the energy of a locust swarm, stripping Somalia bare in half an hour.
—Tomas Tranströmer, The New Yorker, 7 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for locust
Dictionary Entries Near locust
Cite this Entry
“Locust.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/locust. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
locust
noun
lo·cust
ˈlō-kəst 
1
a
: short-horned grasshopper
especially
: a grasshopper that often migrates in vast swarms and eats up the plants in its course
b
: cicada
2
a
: any of various trees of the legume family with hard wood
b
: the wood of a locust
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