backswimmer

Questions about backswimmer

What does backswimmer mean?

backswimmer means "predaceous aquatic insect that swims on its back and may inflict painful bites".

How many syllables are in backswimmer?

backswimmer has 3 syllables and divides as back-swim-mer under the regular spelling rules. It is not in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, so that comes from how the word is written rather than from a recorded pronunciation, and no stress or phonetic transcription is claimed for it.

What is another word for backswimmer?

Close synonyms include Notonecta undulata. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is backswimmer a common word?

backswimmer is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.