Butterfly

Quick meaning: Butterfly is a noun meaning A flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, distinguished from moths by their diurnal activity and generally brighter colouring.

Meaning

A flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, distinguished from moths by their diurnal activity and generally brighter colouring.

More Meanings

1. (medicine, attributive) A use of surgical tape, cut into thin strips and placed across an open wound to hold it closed.
2. (swimming) The butterfly stroke.
3. Any of several plane curves that look like a butterfly; see Butterfly curve (transcendental) and Butterfly curve (algebraic).
4. (in the plural) Ellipsis of butterflies in one’s stomach (“A sensation of excited anxiety felt in the stomach”).
5. (now rare) Someone seen as being unserious and (originally) dressed gaudily; someone flighty and unreliable.
6. (finance) A combination of four options of the same type at three strike prices giving limited profit and limited risk.
7. (alternate history) A random change in an aspect of the timeline seemingly unrelated to the primary point of divergence, resulting from the butterfly effect.

Example Sentences

butterflied shrimp

I get terrible butterflies before an exam.

butterfly tape; butterfly bandage; butterfly strips

It is true. I am like a butterfly, and I shall only live a little while.

Word Forms

• butterflies
• butterflying
• butterflied

Synonyms for butterfly

Depending on context, synonyms include balimbing, apostate, changeling, defector, runagate, traitor.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include moth, wing, honey, papillon, mariposa, tie.

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