gadfly
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“LLMs themselves are more or less just as unreliable as they were ever,” says AI researcher and gadfly Gary Marcus.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 17, 2026
That’s because in Austin, Harrison is viewed as a gadfly, with few legislative victories or allies.
From Salon • Oct. 16, 2025
The publication was founded in 1955 by the legendary gadfly William F. Buckley Jr. as a salon for the various right-leaning fraternities in American life: fire-eating libertarians, orthodox Catholics, conspiratorial anti-communists.
From Slate • Apr. 25, 2025
For decades, he also relished his role as a brutally insulting critic — sometimes of the bands he worked with — and a gadfly who pushed uncomfortable buttons about race, politics and sex.
From New York Times • May 14, 2024
I had moved from the role of a gadfly within the organization to one of the powers that I had been rebelling against.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
Vocabulary lists containing gadfly
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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"Letter from Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King, Jr. (1963)
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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
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