ant

Multiple Entries:
  ant    -ant    ant-    anti-  

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
ant/ant/

▶noun a small insect, usually wingless and with a sting, living in a complex social colony with one or more breeding queens. [Family Formicidae.]

– phrases
have ants in one's pants informal be fidgety.

– origin OE ǣmete, of W. Gmc origin: cf. emmet.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
-ant

▶suffix

• 1 (forming adjectives) denoting attribution of an action or state: arrogant.

• 2 (forming nouns) denoting an agent: deodorant.

– origin from Fr. or L. pres. participial verb stems (see also -ent).

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
ant-/ant/

▶prefix variant spelling of anti- shortened before a vowel or h (as in Antarctic).

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
anti- /ˈanti/ (also ant-)

▶prefix

• 1 opposed to; against: anti-aircraft.

  ■ preventing or relieving: antibacterial.

  ■ the opposite of: anticlimax.

  ■ acting as a rival: antipope.

• 2 Physics the antiparticle of a specified particle.

– origin from Gk anti ‘against’.