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.
A gadfly candidate for mayor of Chicago, Lar Daly, secured a quirky FCC ruling.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 8, 2026
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
You know that gadfly Lady Whistledown’s voice is none other than that of Dame Julie Andrews.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 3, 2024
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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