locust swarm
1
5.5
- noun
:
nube de langostas
- Those of us behind the two-legged locust swarm known as the boomer generation are already known.
Examples
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A massive locust swarm descended on the fields, consuming everything in its path.
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They need his help against the locust swarm.
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Recently I've had nightmares of our hunting grounds being overrun by an alien locust swarm called Demand Media.
Blog text (1) -
Farmers are worried about the impending locust swarm that could devastate their crops.
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Scientists are studying how climate change affects the behavior of locust swarms.
Synonyms
42
3.4
A large group of insects or people moving together without control
11
5.6
A large group of insects that destroy crops and plants
Antonyms
How Large
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase 'locust swarm' is a straightforward composition of 'locust' (a migratory crop-eating insect) and 'swarm' (a large moving group), so its meaning — a large group of locusts moving together — is directly derivable from the parts. This is a common, transparent noun-noun construction present across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both words would readily understand it.
Etymology
The noun locust swarm describes huge numbers of locusts moving together in a swarm to eat crops. Imagine dark clouds of locusts eating all the plants in a field, so the phrase means 'a very large, destructive group'.