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Glite Dictionary
🪰 A lure 🎯 An attraction
attractant

attractant

1 5.9
A substance that makes animals or insects come to a place because of its smell
  • noun
  • /əˈtræktənt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : atrayente
  • The sweet scent of ripe fruit acts as an attractant for various birds and insects in the garden.
  • insect attractants
  • sexual attractants

Examples

  • A female yellow fever mosquito probes a piece of Limburger cheese, one of the few known mosquito attractants.

    Academic text (2000)

  • Sticky traps are squares of cardboard coated with adhesive and imbued with a chemical mouse attractant, hence their alternate name, glue boards.

    Academic text (1993)

  • Now this could be either an attractant or repellent.

  • We have to find the two or three that are actual attractants.

    Academic text (1994)

  • You have to make sure that the attractant you're using works for that particular mosquito.

    Academic text (2000)

  • Professional field biologists note that all living things respond to sexual attractants and the smell of food.

    Academic text (2005)

  • While sexual attractants work, the willingness or ability of animals to respond to them varies widely with time and place.

    Academic text (2005)

  • " Scientists have known for years that lactic acid, present on human skin, is a mosquito attractant.

    Academic text (2000)

  • The trap also uses a fast-acting attractant that's safe, non-toxic, and sanitary.

    Blog text (3)

  • Attractants can be used as nontoxic baits in mosquito traps for surveillance purposes.

    Academic text (2000)

Synonyms

pheromone
vsattractant
  • Specialized
40 7.0

A chemical signal an animal makes to change the behavior of other animals of the same species

appeals to senses or instincts across animals and people rather than only same-species signals
lure
vsattractant
23 4.6

An object that attracts fish or other animals into a trap

is a substance appealing to senses or instincts rather than a physical trapping object

Antonyms

repellent
18 4.2

A chemical used to keep insects and other animals away

How Attractive

lure
23 4.6
attractant
  • Specialized
1 5.9
bait
79 1.0

Surface Forms

attractant singular
attractants plural

Morphology

attractant = attract (transparent) = attract + ant

The suffix '-ant' is a standard agentive suffix, making the meaning clear as something that attracts.

Etymology

Attractant comes from the root tract meaning 'to pull', the same root as tractor. The ending -ant means 'something that', so an attractant is a thing that 'pulls' animals or insects toward it, often by smell or taste.