How do you use the word "wasp" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "wasp": I got a nasty sting from a wasp. Don't provoke that wasp.

Wasp Meaning

/wɒsp/

Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

nounAny of many types of stinging flying insect resembling a hornet.

nounAny of the members of suborder Apocrita, excepting the ants (family Formicidae) and bees (clade Anthophila).

Sentence Examples

I got a nasty sting from a wasp.

Don't provoke that wasp.

A wasp flew in the open window.

CEFR Practice Quiz

The buzzing ____ flew around the picnic table looking for food.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

Be careful near that nest, as a ____ might sting you if it feels threatened by your presence today.

Word Origin & History

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- Proto-Indo-European *wóbʰseh₂ Proto-Germanic *wapsō Proto-West Germanic *wapsu Old English wæps Middle English wasp English wasp Inherited from Middle English wappes, waps, wasp, waspe, from Old English wæfs, wæps, wæsp, from Proto-West Germanic *wapsu, from Proto-Germanic *wapsō (“wasp”), from Proto-Indo-European *wóbʰseh₂ (“wasp”), from *webʰ- (“to braid, weave”), referring to the insect's woven nests. Cognates Cognate with North Frisian wesp (“wasp”), Saterland Frisian Häspe (“wasp”), West Frisian waps (“wasp”), Alemannic German Wespi (“wasp”), Bavarian Weps, Wepsn (“wasp”), Cimbrian bèspa (“wasp”), Dutch and Vilamovian wesp (“wasp”), German Wespe (“wasp”), Low German Weps, Wepse (“wasp”), Yiddish וועספּ (vesp), וועספּע (vespe, “wasp”), Danish hveps (“wasp”), Norwegian Bokmål veps (“wasp”), Norwegian Nynorsk kvefs (“wasp”); also Cornish goghi (“wasp”), Irish foich, foiche, puch (“wasp”), Welsh gwchi (“drone”), Latin vespa (“wasp”), Greek ανυφαίνω (anyfaíno), υφαίνω (yfaíno, “to weave”), Albanian vej (“to weave”), Latvian lapsene (“wasp”), Lithuanian vapsvà (“wasp”), Old Prussian wobse (“wasp”), Belarusian аса́ (asá, “wasp”), Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian, and Ukrainian оса́ (osá, “wasp”), Czech vosa (“wasp”), Polish, Slovene, and Slovak osa (“wasp”), Serbo-Croatian о̀са, òsa (“wasp”), Armenian մոզ (moz, “a kind of fly that bites horses and cattle”), Avestan 𐬬𐬀𐬡𐬲𐬀𐬐𐬀 (vaβžaka, “scorpion”), Central Kurdish مۆز (moz, “gadfly, horsefly”), Mazanderani ماز (mâz, “fly”), Northern Kurdish moz (“wasp; gadfly, horsefly; bee; bumblebee”), Persian بوز (bavz / bowz, “wasp”), Tocharian A wäp- (“to weave”), Tocharian B wāp- (“to weave”), Sanskrit उभ्नाति (ubhnāti, “to hurt, kill; to cover”). Metathesis of /s/ and /p/ was both a process of some generality within English (compare grasp from Middle English grapsen, and—affecting other plosives—ascian ~ acsian (“to ask”)) and common in the reflexes of *wóps-eh₂ (“wasp”) in particular, as the aforementioned Germanic cognates (and non-Germanic cognates like Latin vespa) evince.

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"The show went through clothes to suit the lifestyle of a wealthy wasp, an American archetype that is now synonymous with the brand." — 2026 January 17, Lauren Cochrane, “Paul Smith reworks his past at Milan menswear salon show”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 17 Jan 2026:

"Bill got to college only by dint of support from a female relative and heiress (a useful WASP resource) and by scholarships, then a symbol of WASP entitlement." — 1989 March 19, Elizabeth Janeway, “The Brotherhood of the WASP”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 24 Jan 2022:

"Joseph Alsop, the acerbic columnist she married in 1961, called his crowd “the ever-diminishing group of survivors of the WASP ascendancy.” It was a world of perfect manners and closely held power, not hugs and meaningful exchanges." — 1993 October 31, Maureen Dowd, quoting Joseph Alsop, “The WASP Descendancy”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 24 Jan 2022:

"Growing up in white suburbs and attending elite schools and institutions of higher learning, black American prince and princesses are immersed in Anglo (often WASP) culture and emerge with modes of speech, behavior and grooming that brand them as "Oreos," black on the outside and white in the middle." — 2002 November 26, Adrienne Crew, “BAP like me”, in Salon, archived from the original on 15 Jul 2007:

"We once had a coherent ruling class, the White Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASPs), who more or less owned and ran the United States from its founding through the 1970s. Based largely in the Northeast, with offshoots in the Upper Midwest, WASPs went to the same elite schools and colleges, belonged to the same clubs, married out of the same pool, and vacationed in the same favorite rural retreats. There were Southern WASPs, descendants of the slave-owning gentry, but they never had the social weight of their northern relatives—although they did rule their region and enjoy an outsized role in Congress for decades." — 2021 April 27, Doug Henwood, “Take Me to Your Leader: The Rot of the American Ruling Class”, in Jacobin, archived from the original on 28 Aug 2022:

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