par·a·site

(păr′ə-sīt′)

1. Biology An organism that lives and feeds on or in an organism of a different species and causes harm to its host.

a. One who habitually takes advantage of the generosity of others without making any useful return.

b. One who lives off and flatters the rich; a sycophant.

3. A professional dinner guest, especially in ancient Greece.

[Latin parasītus, a person who lives by amusing the rich, from Greek parasītos, person who eats at someone else's table, parasite : para-, beside; see para-¹ + sītos, grain, food.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

parasite

(ˈpærəˌsaɪt)

1. (Biology) an animal or plant that lives in or on another (the host) from which it obtains nourishment. The host does not benefit from the association and is often harmed by it

2. a person who habitually lives at the expense of others; sponger

3. (formerly) a sycophant

[C16: via Latin from Greek parasitos one who lives at another's expense, from para-¹ + sitos grain]

parasitic, ˌparaˈsitical adj

ˌparaˈsitically adv

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

par•a•site

(ˈpær əˌsaɪt)

n.

1. an organism that lives on or within a plant or animal of another species, from which it obtains nutrients (opposed to host).

2. a person who receives support or advantage from another without giving any useful or proper return, as one who lives on the hospitality of others.

3. (esp. in ancient Greece) a person receiving free meals in return for amusing conversation or flattery.

[1530–40; < Latin parasītus < Greek parásītos one who eats at another's table =para- para-¹ + sîtos grain, food]

par·a·site

(păr′ə-sīt′)

An organism that lives in or on a different kind of organism (called the host) from which it gets some or all of its nourishment. Parasites are generally harmful to their hosts, and in some cases they may even destroy the other organism, although more often the damage they do is minor. Lice and tapeworms are parasites of humans.

The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

parasite

An organism living on or in, and feeding on, another organism.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	parasite - an animal or plant that lives in or on a host (another animal or plant); it obtains nourishment from the host without benefiting or killing the host organism, being - a living thing that has (or can develop) the ability to act or function independently plant life, flora, plant - (botany) a living organism lacking the power of locomotion endoparasite, endozoan, entoparasite, entozoan, entozoon - any of various parasites that live in the internal organs of animals (especially intestinal worms) ectoparasite, ectozoan, ectozoon, epizoan, epizoon - any external parasitic organism (as fleas) parasitic plant - plant living on another plant and obtaining organic nutriment from it host - an animal or plant that nourishes and supports a parasite; it does not benefit and is often harmed by the association
	2.	parasite - a follower who hangs around a host (without benefit to the host) in hope of gain or advantage leech, sponger, sponge follower - a person who accepts the leadership of another

parasite

noun sponger (informal), sponge (informal), drone (Brit.), leech, hanger-on, scrounger (informal), bloodsucker (informal), cadger parasites living off the state

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

parasite

noun

One who depends on another for support without reciprocating:

bloodsucker, hanger-on, leech, sponge.

Slang: freeloader.

Translations

طُفَيْلِي

parazitcizopasník

parasit

Parasit Schmarotzer

παράσιτο παράσιτος

parásito

parasite parasiter profiteur

טפיל

nametnikparazit

parazitaélősködő

afætasníkillsníkjudýrsníkjudÿr

parassita

parazitasparazitinis

parazīts

parazitparazită

паразит приживал нахлебник

parazit

parasit

asalak parazit

寄生植物寄生虫

parasite

[ˈpærəsaɪt] N (lit, fig) → parásito/a m/f (on de)

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

parasite

[ˈpærəsaɪt] n

(= animal, plant) → parasite m

(fig) → parasite m

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

parasite

n (lit) → Parasit m, → Schmarotzer m; (fig) → Schmarotzer(in) m(f)

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

parasite

[ˈpærəˌsaɪt] n → parassita m

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

parasite

(ˈpӕrəsait) noun

an animal or plant that lives on another animal or plant without giving anything in return. Fleas are parasites; He is a parasite on society.

ˌparaˈsitic adjective

par·a·site

n. parásito, organismo que vive a expensas de otro.

parasite

n parásito

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Glorious men are the scorn of wise men, the admiration of fools, the idols of parasites, and the slaves of their own vaunts.

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They know from experience that they sometimes err; and the wonder is that they so seldom err as they do, beset, as they continually are, by the wiles of parasites and sycophants, by the snares of the ambitious, the avaricious, the desperate, by the artifices of men who possess their confidence more than they deserve it, and of those who seek to possess rather than to deserve it.

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"The country to-day looks to its army and its navy to save it from the humiliation these black-coated parasites have encouraged, and yet even now we haven't a free hand.

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"Our parasites"; she remembered how Vronsky had said that.

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He appears to have been one of those Russian parasites who lead an idle existence abroad, spending the summer at some spa, and the winter in Paris, to the greater profit of the organizers of public balls.

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A lively quarrel ensued, Trefusis denouncing the folly of artists in fancying themselves a priestly caste when they were obviously only the parasites and favored slaves of the moneyed classes, and his friend (temporarily his enemy) sneering bitterly at levellers who were for levelling down instead of levelling up.

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Fentolin's parasites or bodyguards, or whatever you call them."

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And this is not all; for the servants and panders of the parasites are also parasites, the milliners and the jewelers and the lackeys have also to be supported by the useful members of the community.

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Still more repugnant unto me, however, are all lickspittles; and the most repugnant animal of man that I found, did I christen "parasite": it would not love, and would yet live by love.

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In the case of the misseltoe, which draws its nourishment from certain trees, which has seeds that must be transported by certain birds, and which has flowers with separate sexes absolutely requiring the agency of certain insects to bring pollen from one flower to the other, it is equally preposterous to account for the structure of this parasite, with its relations to several distinct organic beings, by the effects of external conditions, or of habit, or of the volition of the plant itself.

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There was some thick, bush-like clump which seemed to be a parasite upon a branch up which I was swarming.

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Parasite little tenements, with the cramp in their whole frame, from the dwarf hall-door on the giant model of His Grace's in the Square to the squeezed window of the boudoir commanding the dunghills in the Mews, made the evening doleful.

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