pesticide

pesticide — noun

1. a substance used in farming, gardening, or public health to kill insects, weeds,

1.nounC1
Definition

a substance used in farming, gardening, or public health to kill insects, weeds, rats, fungi, or other living things that damage crops or spread disease

Example

Farm workers wore masks while spraying pesticide on the tomato plants.

collocation: spray pesticide on crops

After the storm, rainwater carried pesticide from the field into the river.

Common collocations
  • spray pesticide
  • use pesticide
  • pesticide residue
  • pesticide exposure
  • chemical pesticide
Synonyms
  • insecticide

    narrower; used only for killing insects

  • herbicide

    narrower; used only for killing weeds or unwanted plants

  • rodenticide

    narrower and more technical; used for rats, mice, and similar animals

  • poison

    broader and less exact; often suggests greater danger in everyday speech

Usage Note

Broad cover term in farming, gardening, and public health writing; people often use more exact words such as insecticide, herbicide, or rodenticide when the target pest is clear.

Common Mistakes

The farmer put pesticide on the soil to help the plants grow.
The farmer put fertilizer on the soil to help the plants grow.
pesticide kills pests; fertilizer feeds the plants.
Farmers spray many pesticide in summer.
Farmers spray many pesticides in summer.
this noun is countable when you mean different products.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

For noun sense 1, pesticide is the broad general word for a substance used to kill pests of many kinds. Insecticide is narrower and only covers insects such as flies or mosquitoes. Herbicide is for weeds and other unwanted plants, while rodenticide is a technical word for products used against rats and mice. Poison is much broader and less exact: it can describe many harmful substances, not only ones used in farming or gardening. So a farmer may use pesticide as the umbrella term, then choose insecticide for aphids or herbicide for weeds. You spray pesticide on a field, insecticide on mosquitoes, and herbicide on unwanted grass.

insecticideherbicide ↗rodenticidepoison ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • pesticide residue
  • pesticide exposure
  • pesticide use
  • pesticide spray

Phrases

  • spray pesticide on crops
  • reduce pesticide use
  • be exposed to pesticide
  • keep pesticide away from children

Prepositions

  • on crops
  • in food
  • against insects

Etymology

LatinEnglish

Pesticide is a modern English formation built from pest and the ending -cide, which comes from Latin and means 'killing'. The word literally names something used to kill pests.