Synonyms for parasite
Synonyms by meaning
Noun
1. Leech — A person who lives on other people's efforts or expense and gives little or nothing back
leech, sponge, sucker, blood-sucker, sponger, free-loader, hanger-on, scrounge, scrounger, moocher, mooch informal, smell-feast dated, bummer slang dated US
Definitions
- n. 1
A person who lives on other people's efforts or expense and gives little or nothing back.
- n. 2
An organism that lives on or in another organism of a different species, deriving benefit from living on or in that other organism, while not contributing towards that other organism sufficiently to cover the cost to that other organism.
Lice, fleas, ticks, and mites are widely spread parasites.
Related words
- Word family
- parasitation parasitic parasitical parasitization parasitize parasitism
- Phrases
- welfare parasite
Forms
- Plural
- parasites → leeches, sponges, suckers, blood-suckers…
Example sentences
- leech The earthworm and the leech are both segmented worms.
- user User-friendly software is important for my needs.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| parasite | falling | |
| leech | rising | |
| scrounger | rising | |
| sponger | steady | |
| user | rising |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 4 letters
- user2
- 5 letters
- leech1, mooch
- 6 letters
- sponge1, sucker2, bummer2, flunky
- 7 letters
- moocher, sponger
- 8 letters
- courtier3, scrounge1
- 9 letters
- sycophant, scrounger, flatterer
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (user2 = 2 syllables).