How to Use parasitic in a Sentence

parasitic

adjective
Definition of parasiticnext
Synonyms for parasiticnext
  • The parasitic tracheal mite is no more welcome to a hive.
    — Washington Post, 4 Feb. 2022
  • It’s covered in ivy, which isn’t parasitic but is taking light away from the tree.
    — Elena Kadvany, San Francisco Chronicle, 8 Feb. 2022
  • Since the 1950s, the US government has used it to tamp down screwworms, parasitic flies that feed on the flesh of livestock.
    — Emily Mullin, WIRED, 28 June 2023
  • The firm shares its name with a parasitic fish, native to the Amazon River basin, that drains the blood of larger fish.
    — Ronan Farrow, The New Yorker, 18 Apr. 2022
  • An Australian woman had a parasitic live worm plucked from her brain in a world first.
    — Elizabeth Both, NBC News, 30 Aug. 2023
  • The museum is filled with monsters, from the Kraken to the Vampire, the Werewolf and the parasitic Tingler.
    — Elsa Keslassy, Variety, 7 June 2023
  • In general, however, the parasitic worm lives in the lungs of rats.
    — Will Sullivan, Smithsonian Magazine, 29 Sep. 2023
  • The parasitic plant is only found in two states — North and South Carolina.
    — Hunter Boyce, ajc, 9 June 2022
  • He was treated for mange [a skin disease caused by parasitic mites].
    — Erin Clements, Peoplemag, 1 Dec. 2023
  • And take a wild guess as to where the parasitic wasp Conobregma bradpitti got its name.
    — Bruce Y. Lee, Forbes, 11 Feb. 2023
  • For its use as an anti-parasitic drug, the FDA has approved 0.2 mg per kilogram of body weight in a single oral dose.
    — Tim De Chant, Ars Technica, 18 Jan. 2022
  • Either way, the parasitic plant has grown into a fixture of the holiday season in the U.S.
    — Jay Cannon, USA TODAY, 21 Dec. 2021
  • New parasitic wasps will soon hatch out of them, so leave any parasitized hornworms in place.
    — Megan Hughes, Better Homes & Gardens, 30 June 2022
  • But this is too parasitic a term to apply to the artfulness occurring in the Newman.
    — Thomas Floyd, Washington Post, 11 Dec. 2023
  • The parasitic bloom-red flower has long grabbed the attention of scientists and voyeurs alike.
    — Emma Ogao, ABC News, 22 Sep. 2023
  • These tiny, parasitic insects are also unsettling and can be tough to get rid of.
    — USA TODAY, 16 Mar. 2024
  • But to date, the relationship between the smart TV and the smart home has been more parasitic than symbiotic.
    — Wes Davis, The Verge, 21 Sep. 2023
  • The approval was not only a first for that disease, but also for any parasitic disease.
    — Joe Spring, Smithsonian Magazine, 23 Dec. 2021
  • The hypothesis is that the crayfish prey on the freshwater snails that host the parasitic flatworms that cause the acute and chronic disease.
    — Kate Connolly, Wired, 22 Jan. 2022
  • Little is known about how the parasitic Rafflesia—a genus that produces the world’s largest and stinkiest flower—infects its host plants.
    — Shi En Kim, Scientific American, 23 Feb. 2022
  • This parasitic fungus is a real example of one (kind of).
    — Katie Liu, Discover Magazine, 14 Dec. 2023
  • It's approved to treat some parasitic worms, head lice and skin conditions but isn't an antiviral drug.
    — Tom Sissom, Arkansas Online, 29 Dec. 2022
  • It's approved to treat some parasitic worms, head lice and skin conditions, but isn't an antiviral drug.
    — Ron Wood, Arkansas Online, 9 May 2022
  • The infected bug becomes a mobile host to the parasitic fungi, which forces its host to climb up a nearby plant or tree, and clamp onto its surface.
    — Sam Stone, Bon Appétit, 1 Feb. 2023
  • Doctors prescribed the man the anti-parasitic ivermectin, and the rash and diarrhea improved.
    — Beth Mole, Ars Technica, 22 Apr. 2022
  • The dodder, Cuscuta europaea, a k a strangleweed or the devil’s hair, is a parasitic plant.
    — Stephen Armstrong, Wired, 2 Dec. 2021
  • He’s just defeated McMullen (the first of the show’s many representations of parasitic out-of-state coastal elite scum) and goes on stage to give a victory speech.
    — Josh St. Clair, Men's Health, 13 Nov. 2022
  • Tests later confirmed that P-22 had been exposed to rat poison and was suffering from mange, a parasitic mite.
    — Los Angeles Times, 21 Apr. 2022
  • In the lab, each fish undergoes a full physical, inside and out, first for sea lice attached to the animal’s skin and then for parasitic worms in its organs and gills.
    — Rachel Nuwer, Scientific American, 28 Apr. 2022
  • Just three months earlier, Shepherd would have strolled right past the parasitic weed without giving it a second glance.
    — Sanjana Ganguly-Fitzgerald, San Diego Union-Tribune, 14 July 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'parasitic.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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