fruit fly
Americannoun
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any of numerous small dipterous insects of the family Tephritidae, the larvae of which feed on the fruit of various plants.
noun
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any small dipterous fly of the family Trypetidae , which feed on and lay their eggs in plant tissues See also gallfly
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any dipterous fly of the genus Drosophila See drosophila
Etymology
Origin of fruit fly
First recorded in 1745–55
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In the field, those 20-inch black-painted aluminum wheels wouldn’t stay pretty for long; those running boards would have the life expectancy of a fruit fly.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 6, 2026
Finally, a worm needed the encouragement of a gentle puff of air or a slight mechanical disturbance before making the leap toward a suspended fruit fly.
From Science Daily • Oct. 15, 2025
All that precipitation also spurs the spread of pests like the fruit fly and the growth of fungal diseases, all of which are becoming a growing problem as the planet warms.
From Salon • Jan. 30, 2025
But it wasn't until October that scientists studying the brain of a fruit fly mapped the position, shape and connections of every single one of its 130,000 cells and 50 million connections.
From BBC • Dec. 28, 2024
From the bacteria in the sink to the fruit fly circling the bowl of bananas.
From "Counting by 7s" by Holly Goldberg Sloan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.