gnat

«gnat» in Mova's school dictionary: a tiny flying insect, a bit like a very small fly, often… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a gnat, gnats)

meaning for a pupil

A gnat is a tiny flying insect, a bit like a very small fly, often seen in clouds near water; some kinds bite. tree →

sense in the lessons

In science lessons gnats are insects with six legs and two wings; many are food for birds, bats and fish. In everyday life gnats buzz around faces on summer evenings. In stories, something annoying but small may be compared to a gnat. Phrases: a cloud of gnats, «strain at a gnat» (Bible: fuss over tiny things).

examples

• A cloud of gnats hovered over the pond. tree →
• I got bitten by gnats on the camping trip. tree →
• Swallows swoop to catch gnats in the air. tree →
• The gnat was so small it got through the window net. tree →
• In the Bible, Jesus speaks of people who strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. tree →
• The little gnat kept buzzing round my ear. tree →
• The gnats and flies grew blithe and merry. tree →

note

The «g» is silent: say «nat». Countable. In the US, «gnat» covers many small flies; in the UK, «midge» is often used for biting ones.

In the corpora

• Bats catch moths and gnats in the dark by shouting very high squeaks and listening for the echoes.
• He spoke, and there came swarms of flies, and gnats in all their borders.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «gnat» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.