cicada killer

1. 1.

   large black or rust-colored wasp that preys on cicadas

   SynonymsSphecius speciosis

   Broaderdigger wasp

   Part ofSphecius

Questions about cicada killer

What does cicada killer mean?

cicada killer means "large black or rust-colored wasp that preys on cicadas".

What is another word for cicada killer?

Close synonyms include Sphecius speciosis. 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 cicada killer a common word?

cicada killer 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.