noun
- a common fly found in and around human dwellings, typically gray with dark stripes on its thorax
Usage: often written as two words (house fly) or hyphenated (house-fly), but single-word form is standard in modern usage
Examples
- A housefly landed on the kitchen counter.
- The housefly is one of the most widespread insects in the world.
- She swatted the housefly with a rolled-up newspaper.
- Houseflies can carry bacteria and contaminate food.
- The housefly has a short lifespan of about 28 days.