Checking saved dictionary data and trusted language sources. This will stop automatically if a source does not respond.
/ˈhoɹsˌflaɪ/ · noun
Any of several medium to large flies, of the family Tabanidae, that suck the blood of mammals (not to be confused with Stomoxys calcitrans, the stable fly, or dog fly)..
It was not a horsefly and it was not a deerfly; it was bigger than either.
Use horsefly when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.
Horsefly means Any of several medium to large flies, of the family Tabanidae, that suck the blood of mammals (not to be confused with Stomoxys calcitrans, the stable fly, or dog fly)..
Common synonyms include cleg, breezefly, gadfly, stoat-fly.
The opposite depends on the specific sense.
It was not a horsefly and it was not a deerfly; it was bigger than either.
FreeDictionaryAPI.com / Wiktionary · Original source · CC BY-SA 4.0
Dictionary data is provided by FreeDictionaryAPI.com and sourced from Wiktionary under its stated license.