adulticide

8.6

A product that kills fully grown insects like mosquitoes

noun
/əˈdʌltɪˌsaɪd/

Specialized

: adulticida

Gardeners often use adulticide sprays to eliminate adult insects from their plants.

And to knock down that population, they have to use adulticides, right?

Examples

Immediately upon announcing its decision to spray adulticides in 2000, NYC was challenged by a group of organizations and individuals concerned about the environmental and human health effects of widespread pesticide use.

Academic text (2005)
Permethrin is an effective adulticide used to control adult mosquito populations.
In areas where mosquito-borne diseases are common, communities often rely on adulticides for pest management.

Synonyms

pesticide

vsadulticide

Specialized

108 3.5

A chemical used to kill insects and animals that harm crops or spread disease

is specific to adult insects rather than many types of pests

insecticide

vsadulticide

Specialized

26 4.1

A chemical used to kill insects that harm crops or homes

targets only adult insects rather than all life stages

insect powder

vsadulticide

3.2

A powder used to kill insects

targets only adult insects rather than application form

How Targeted

adulticide

Specialized

8.6

insecticide

Specialized

26 4.1

repellent

18 4.2

Surface Forms

adulticide singular

adulticides plural

Morphology

adulticide = adult (semi-transparent) = adult + cide

The word is built transparently from 'adult' plus '-cide' 'killer', but the form is a technical pest-control term rather than an everyday word.

Etymology

Adulticide comes from adult and the part -cide, which means 'to kill' and is in words like pesticide and homicide. So an adulticide is a chemical used to kill adult insects, especially mosquitoes.