Drone

/dɹəʊn/ · noun

Meaning

A male ant, bee, or wasp, which does not work but can fertilize the queen..

Definitions by Sense

1. A male ant, bee, or wasp, which does not work but can fertilize the queen.
2. (now rare) One who does not work; a lazy person, an idler.
3. One who performs menial or tedious work.
4. Any remotely operated or autonomous vehicle for land, sea, air, or space.
5. (Uganda) A Toyota HiAce or a similar van, especially one used by Ugandan state agents to kidnap opposition members.
6. (slang, derogatory) One who lacks the ability to think critically and independently, especially one who follows a group blindly; a non-player character.
7. (BDSM) In dronification kink, one who is mindless and obedient to a dominant, characterized by a detached and robotic identity and an anonymous appearance, typically composed of a latex suit and gas mask.
8. (transitive, colloquial) To kill or destroy with a drone (unmanned aircraft), or with a missile fired by a drone.

Example Sentences

All with united force combine to drive / The lazy drones from the laborious hive.

SHYLOCK: / The patch is kind enough, but a huge feeder, / Snail-slow in profit, and he sleeps by day / More than the wild-cat; drones hive not with me; / Therefore I part with him; and part with him / To one what I would have him help to waste / His borrowed purse. […]

he that gathereth not every day as much as I doe, the next day shall be set beyond the river, and be banished from the Fort as a drone, till he amend his conditions or starve.

by living as a drone, to be an unprofitable or unworthy member of so learned and noble a society

aerial drones

sea drones

land drones

space drones

Synonyms for drone

Antonyms for drone

Related Words

Word Forms

• drones
• droning
• droned

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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