ant
[ɛənt]UK/ænt/
ant noun: any of various insects in the family Formicidae in the order Hymenoptera, typically living in large colonies composed almost entirely of flightless females.
Noun (1)
ant (plural ants)
- Any of various insects in the family Formicidae in the order Hymenoptera, typically living in large colonies composed almost entirely of flightless females.
- The San Juan market is Mexico City's most famous deli of exotic meats, where an adventurous shopper can hunt down hard-to-find critters […]. But the priciest items in the market aren't the armadillo steaks or even the bluefin tuna. That would be the frozen chicatanas – giant winged ants – at around...2013 July 26, Nick Miroff, “Mexico gets a taste for eating insects […] ”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 7, page 32
- A Web spider.
Verb
ant (third-person singular simple present ants, present participle anting, simple past and past participle anted)
- To rub insects, especially ants, on one's body, perhaps to control parasites or clean feathers.
- Wild birds tend to ant and sunbathe most frequently during periods of high humidity, particularly right after heavy or prolonged rainfall in summer.1974, Eloise Potter and Doris Hauser, “Relationship of anting and sunbathing to molting in wild birds”, in The Auk, volume 91, archived from the original on 06 Jun 2011, page 538
Proper noun (1) capitalized: ANT
ANT
- Initialism of Afghanistan National Television.
Noun (2) capitalized: ANT
ANT (countable and uncountable, plural ANTs)
- Initialism of Aids to Navigation Team, as used in the United States Coast Guard.
- Abbreviation of actor–network theory.
- Acronym of ambiguous nuclear transient.
Proper noun (2) capitalized: Ant
Ant
- A diminutive of the male given name Anthony, from Latin.
- A river in Norfolk, England, tributary to the Bure.
- The 27th sura (chapter) of the Qur'an.
- Anthropic (American artificial intelligence company)
- if ant and oai IPO in 2026 there will be no permanent underclass. the IPO of the labs is one of the best things that can happen for average person's economic future* ¶ *unless it's a bubble lol2026 June 2, @andersonbcdefg, X (post), archived from the original on 18 Jul 2026
- have heard from a few ppl now who've been rejected by anthropic for not recalling exact syntax ¶ seems absurd at face value but remember Ant has one of the most talent dense applicant pools which permits them to be as absurd or nonsensical as they like & still be no worse off2026 June 3, @orphcorp, X (post), archived from the original on 18 Jul 2026
- Synonyms:
- Anth
ant meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
ant in Hindi
- insect
- चींटी cī̃ṭī, चिऊँटी ciū̃ṭī
ant in Tamil
- insect
- எறும்பு eṟumpu
ant in Marathi
- insect
- मुंगी muṅgī
ant in Urdu
- insect
- چِیُون٘ٹی ciyū̃ṭī, چْیُون٘ٹی cyū̃ṭī, چِین٘ٹی cī̃ṭī
More languagesFewer languages
- ant in Bengali
- পিঁপড়া pĩpṛa
- ant in Telugu
- చీమ cīma
- ant in Malayalam
- ഉറുമ്പ് uṟumpŭ
- ant in Kannada
- ಇರುವೆ iruve
- ant in Punjabi
- ਕੀੜੀ kīṛī
- ant in Gujarati
- કીડી kīḍī
- ant in Odia
- ପିମ୍ପୁଡି pimpuḍi
- ant in Sanskrit
- वम्र vamrá, पिपीलिका pipīlikā
- ant in Sinhala
- කුහුඹුවා kuhuᵐbuwā
- ant in Assamese
- পৰুৱা porua
- ant in Nepali
- कमिला kamilā
- ant in Pashto
- مېږى meǵáy
- ant in Tagalog
- langgam, guyam
- ant in Arabic
- نَمْل naml, نَمْلَة namla, شَيْصَبَان šayṣabān, نمل naml
- ant in Malay
- semut
- ant in Indonesian
- semut
- ant in Persian
- مورْچَه mōrča, مور mōr, مورْچِه murče
- ant in Thai
- มด mót
- ant in Vietnamese
- kiến
- ant in Myanmar
- ပုရွက်ဆိတ် pu.rwakhcit, ပုရွက် pu.rwak
- Dhivehi
- ހިނި hini
- Kashmiri
- رؠے ryay, ریٚے rey
- Dzongkha
- གྱོག་མོ gyog mo
Examples of ant in a sentence
- The ants did not leave so much as a crumb of bread.
- Our shed has several insect infestations, including ants, yellowjackets, and wasps.
- Together, the ant colony was greater than the sum of its parts.
Synonyms of ant
Forms of ant
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | ants |
| alternative form | ante |
| alternative form | ampte |
| plural | ANTs |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | ants |
| present participle | anting |
| past participle | anted |
| past | anted |
Origin of ant
From Middle English ampte, amte, amete, amote, ante, emete, emot, emotte, empt, empte, from Old English ǣmete, ǣmette, ǣmytte, ǣmætte (“ant”), from Proto-West Germanic *āmaitijā (“ant”), of uncertain and debated origin (q.v.), but probably from Proto-Germanic *ē- (“off, away”) + *maitaną (“to cut”), from Proto-Indo-European *meh₂y- (“to cut”). See also emmet. Cognates Cognate with Yola emotee, emothee (“ant”), West Frisian eamel, eamelder, eameler (“ant”), Alemannic German Ameisse (“ant”), Bavarian Åmasn, Åmeisn (“ant”), Cimbrian amasa (“ant”), Dutch emt (“ant”), German Ameise, Emse (“ant”), Low German Emk (“ant”), Vilamovian ömys (“ant”), Yiddish אַמייזע (ameyze, “ant”).
Shortening.
Words formed from ant
- acrobat ant
- agricultural ant
- Allegheny mound ant
- Amazon ant
- ant bear
- ant-bear
- antbear
- ant-bed
- antbed parrot
- antbed parrot moth
- ant beetle
- antbird
- ant-blue
- ant cap
- ant cattle
- ant colony
- ant cow
- ant cricket
- antdom
- anteater
- ant-eater
- anteating
- ant egg
- anternet
- ant farm
- antheap
- ant-heap
- anthill
- ant-hill
- ant hill
- anthole
- anthood
- anticide
- anting
- antish
- antkind
- antless
- antlet
- antlike
- antling
- antlion
- ant lion
- antly
- ant mill
- ant mimicry
- ant mound
- ant nest beetle
- ant orchid
- antpecker
- Antperson
- antpipit
- antpitta
- ant-plant
- ant plant
- antproof
- ant rattan
- ant rice
- ant sand
- antshrike
- ants in one's pants
Phrases with ant
- jet ant
- red ant
- ant cows
- ant eggs
- ant tree
- army ant
- blue ant
- bull ant
- duck ant
- fire ant
- lion ant
- meat ant
101 more phrasesFewer phrases
- piss ant
- turf ant
- wood ant
- ant bears
- ant farms
- ant hills
- ant lions
- ant mills
- ant trees
- ant tribe
- black ant
- crazy ant
- dusky ant
- ghost ant
- green ant
- honey ant
- horse ant
- lemon ant
- mound ant
- negro ant
- panda ant
- sauba ant
- silky ant
- slave ant
- stink ant
- sugar ant
- thief ant
- tramp ant
- white ant
- ant mounds
- ant plants
- ant spider
- ant thrush
- bullet ant
- driver ant
- safari ant
- turtle ant
- velvet ant
- weaver ant
- ant beetles
- ant orchids
- ant tanager
- coconut ant
- gliding ant
- parasol ant
- pharaoh ant
- rainbow ant
- suicide ant
- trapjaw ant
- warrior ant
- ant colonies
- ant crickets
- ant tanagers
- ant thrushes
- cocktail ant
- Hercules ant
- honeypot ant
- pavement ant
- trap jaw ant
- trap-jaw ant
- umbrella ant
- visiting ant
- Argentine ant
- armadillo ant
- bigheaded ant
- blood-red ant
- blue pony ant
- carpenter ant
- harvester ant
- honey pot ant
- honey-pot ant
- Langton's ant
- legionary ant
- Valentine ant
- green tree ant
- green-tree ant
- leafcutter ant
- sanguinary ant
- leaf-cutter ant
- yellow hill ant
- ant nest beetles
- banded sugar ant
- black garden ant
- leaf-cutting ant
- little black ant
- slave-making ant
- yellow crazy ant
- army ant syndrome
- odorous house ant
- yellow meadow ant
- fungus-growing ant
- skull-collecting ant
- Florida carpenter ant
- red imported fire ant
- black imported fire ant
- Malaysian exploding ant
- threw an ant into a sty
- throw an ant into a sty
- thrown an ant into a sty
- throws an ant into a sty
- throwing an ant into a sty
Words that rhyme with ant
18 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about ant
- What does ant mean?
- Ant means any of various insects in the family Formicidae in the order Hymenoptera, typically living in large colonies composed almost entirely of flightless females.
- What is ant in Hindi?
- Ant in Hindi is चींटी (cī̃ṭī), चिऊँटी (ciū̃ṭī). See Ant meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is ant?
- Ant can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce ant?
- Ant is pronounced /ænt/ (UK).
- What is the plural of ant?
- The plural of ant is ants.
Words near ant in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: ant (page history and authors); ANT (page history and authors); Ant (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-ant.ogg.
Cite this entry: “ant.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ant. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.