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autocide. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
autocide, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
autocide in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
autocide you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology 1
From auto- + -cide.
Noun
autocide (countable and uncountable, plural autocides)
- (agriculture) Control of a pest through propagation of sterile males.
1975, Dennis S. Hill, Agricultural Insect Pests of the Tropics and Their Control, 2nd edition, →ISBN, page 22:Generally, autocide is most effective when applied to restricted populations (islands, etc.), but can be effective on parts of continents.
- (bacteriology) A substance produced by a bacterium that is fatal to that bacterium.
2001, “Myxococcales”, in David R. Boone et al., editors, Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology, →ISBN, page 1065:Five different autocides have been isolated from Myxococcus xanthus.
- (obsolete, rare) A suicidal person.
Derived terms
Etymology 2
From auto + -cide; see auto (“automobile”).
Noun
autocide (countable and uncountable, plural autocides)
- An act of suicide committed by crashing a car.
1993 December 13, “Northbridge Educators Alerted to Depression Among Students”, in Worcester Telegram Gazette:"Autocide is becoming the second most popular method for older teens to commit suicide," she said.
- An act of killing someone with an automobile.
Anagrams