1
: short-horned grasshopper
especially
: a migratory grasshopper often traveling in vast swarms and stripping the areas passed of all vegetation
2
: cicada
3
a
: any of various leguminous trees: such as
(1)
(2)
(3)
b
: the wood of a locust tree
Examples of locust in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Periodical cicadas are not locusts, though they have often been called that.
—
Rivka Galchen, The New Yorker, 7 May 2024
This thought came from colonists who first saw the cicadas and called them ‘locusts,’ but these insects are not related to each other.
—Elizabeth Gamillo, Discover Magazine, 30 Apr. 2024
See all Example Sentences for locust 
Rivka Galchen, The New Yorker, 7 May 2024
This thought came from colonists who first saw the cicadas and called them ‘locusts,’ but these insects are not related to each other.
—Elizabeth Gamillo, Discover Magazine, 30 Apr. 2024
See all Example Sentences for locust
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'locust.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Locust.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/locust. Accessed 28 May. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
locust
noun
lo·cust
ˈlō-kəst 
1
a
: short-horned grasshopper
especially
: a grasshopper that often migrates in vast swarms and eats up the plants in its course
b
: cicada
2
a
: any of various trees of the legume family with hard wood
b
: the wood of a locust
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