Vermin meaning

vûr'mĭn
Vermin are animals, especially small ones, that are destructive pests.

An example of vermin are fleas.

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People considered loathsome or repulsive.
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Various insects, rodents, or other small animals regarded as pests because destructive, disease-carrying, etc., as flies, lice, rats, or weasels.
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Various small animals, such as rats or cockroaches, that are destructive, annoying, or injurious to health.
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Animals that prey on farm animals or game or that destroy crops.
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Birds or other animals that kill game.
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Various small animals, such as rats or cockroaches, that are destructive, annoying, or injurious to health.
pluralNoun
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(countable or uncountable) Any one of various common types of small insects or animals which cause harm and annoyance. [from c. 1300]

The area was plagued by all sorts of vermin: fleas, lice, mice, and rats to name a few.

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(countable or uncountable) Animals that prey on game, such as foxes or weasels.
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(countable or uncountable) Obnoxious, or mean and offensive person or people. [from 1560s]

Bring these gypsy vermin to the Palace of Justice.

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Origin of vermin

  • Middle English from Old French from Vulgar Latin vermīnum from Latin vermis worm wer-2 in Indo-European roots
    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
  • From Norman vermin and Old French vermin, from Vulgar Latin *verminum (“vermin"), collective noun formed from Latin vermis (“worm"). See also worm.
    From Wiktionary

Vermin Sentence Examples

  • This proves a temptation to the vermin too great to be resisted.

  • It is chiefly employed in destroying rats and other vermin, and in driving rabbits from their burrows.

  • One day there appeared upon the scene a piper clad in a fantastic suit, who offered for a certain sum of money to charm all the vermin into the Weser.

  • One advantage of using edgings of this kind, especially in kitchen gardens, is that they do not harbour slugs and similar vermin, which all live edgings do, and often to a serious extent, if they are left to grow large.

  • The various species of rapacious animals are disappearing, together with the colonies of marmots; the insectivores are also becoming scarce in consequence of the destruction of insects; while vermin, such as the suslik, or pouched marmot (Spermophilus), and the destructive insects which are a scourge to agriculture, become a real plague.

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Also Mentioned In

Words near vermin in the Dictionary