grasshopper

noun

grass·​hop·​per ˈgras-ˌhä-pər 

1

: any of numerous plant-eating orthopterous insects (Acrididae, Tettigoniidae, and some related families) having the hind legs adapted for leaping and sometimes engaging in migratory flights in which whole regions may be stripped of vegetation

2

: a cocktail made with crème de menthe, crème de cacao, and light cream

Examples of grasshopper in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

That’s a lot of grasshoppers, crickets, earwigs, and caterpillars. —Anne Readel, Better Homes & Gardens, 20 May 2025

For instance, grasshoppers can leap 20 times the length of their body, which would be like a human jumping halfway across a football field. —Laura Broadwell, Parents, 1 May 2025

They are sometimes mistakenly associated with locusts, like grasshoppers, but cicadas are actually an entirely different sort of insect, part of the same family as stink bugs and bedbugs. —Emily Mae Czachor, CBS News, 28 Apr. 2025

The film centers on a colony of ants — no better model for we, the lowly workers — who must toil to yield a yearly sacrifice of grain to the haughty grasshoppers in order to be left alone. —Mathew Rodriguez, Them, 20 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing grasshopper

• grasshopper sparrow
• knee-high to a grasshopper
• long-horned grasshopper
• red-legged grasshopper
• short-horned grasshopper

Rhymes for grasshopper

• eavesdropper
• improper
• leafhopper
• sharecropper
• chopper
• copper
• cropper
• dropper
• pauper
• popper
• proper
• shopper

Kids Definition

grasshopper

noun

grass·​hop·​per ˈgras-ˌhäp-ər 

: any of numerous plant-eating insects that have long hind legs used for leaping