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Synonyms

hornet

American  
[hawr-nit] / ˈhɔr nɪt /

noun

  1. any large, stinging paper wasp of the family Vespidae, as Vespa crabro giant hornet, introduced into the U.S. from Europe, or Vespula maculata bald-faced hornet, or white-faced hornet, of North America.

hornet British  
/ ˈhɔːnɪt /

noun

  1. any of various large social wasps of the family Vespidae, esp Vespa crabro of Europe, that can inflict a severe sting

  2. a strongly unfavourable reaction (often in the phrase stir up a hornet's nest )

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
hornet Idioms  

  1. see mad as a hornet; stir up a hornet's nest.

Etymology

Origin of hornet

First recorded before 900; Middle English harnete, Old English hyrnet(u); cognate with Old High German hornaz (becoming German Horniss ); akin to horn

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.

My blood gets hot, making me tremble, and a buzzing starts in my ears, like a nest of angry hornets has been released.

From Literature

Asian hornets arrived in Jersey in 2016 and I&E said they are treated as an invasive species because they are aggressive predators of native insects and pose a threat to honey bees.

From BBC

But to his surprise, Wolf leapt up as if he’d been stung by a hornet.

From Literature

Shadi lives in Melbourne, in Australia, but her parents' home is in a neighbourhood of Tehran known as "the hornet's nest".

From BBC

Curiously, I never really got angry at the North Koreans, on the assumption that if you kick the hornet’s nest and get stung, you can’t really blame the hornets.

From The Wall Street Journal

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.