Page last modified April 6, 2022.

Definitions of:

parasitism, parasite, parasitic, and parasitize

Compiled by Dr. Marek A. Suchenek

September 18, 2021

Copyright and all rights reserved

This article is posted here for in-class use only. No other use or uses is/are allowed.

Nouns parasite and parasitism, and adjective parasitic have several meanings. In the contexts that they appear in the Lecture Notes, their meaning is antithetical to work ethic and is best described by the quotes below.

Parasitism:
[...]
2 (derogatory) Habitual reliance on or exploitation of others.

Quote from:
https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/parasitism

Parasite:
[...]
2.a. One who habitually takes advantage of the generosity of others without making any useful return.

Ethymology: [...] from Greek parasītos, person who eats at someone else's table, parasite : para-, beside; + sītos, grain, food.

Quotes from:
https://www.thefreedictionary.com/parasite

Parasitic:
[...]
1.2 (derogatory) Habitually relying on or exploiting others.

Quote from:
https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/parasitic

Verb parasitize has the following meaning.

Parasitize:

to live on (a host) as a parasite.

Quote from:
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/parasitize