noseeum swarm

9.9

A large group of very small, almost invisible biting insects that cause itchy bites

noun
/noʊˈsiːəm swɔrm/

: enjambre de noseeum

I didn't notice the noseeum swarm until I started feeling the itchy bites.

Examples

We had to move indoors because a noseeum swarm made sitting outside impossible.
A large noseeum swarm surrounded us at the lake.
A noseeum swarm appeared at dusk, forcing everyone to cover up with long sleeves.
Did you see that noseeum swarm near the water?
While camping, we were quickly overwhelmed by a noseeum swarm, making it hard to enjoy the evening.
The noseeum swarm was so thick that I could barely see the other side of the garden.
As dusk fell, a noseeum swarm descended upon us, causing everyone to retreat indoors.

Synonyms

swarm

vsnoseeum swarm

42 3.4

A large group of insects or people moving together without control

is about very small biting insects that are nearly invisible and bothersome

Antonyms

absence

216 2.1

A lack of someone or something that should be there

Surface Forms

noseeum swarm singular

noseeum swarms plural

Morphology

noseeum + swarm

The noun-noun compound is fully compositional: if a learner knows 'noseeum' (a tiny biting insect) and 'swarm' (a large moving group), they can directly infer 'a swarm of noseeums' as a large group of those insects. Note that 'noseeum' is regionally rare and often absent from dictionaries, so while the construction is transparent, many learners may not in fact know the first constituent.

Etymology

Noseeum swarm comes from the name noseeum, a way of saying 'no see 'um' because these tiny biting insects are hard to see. A swarm means many together, so noseeum swarm means a large group of very small biting insects that you can hardly see.