Standard Lemma guide

marabunta

noun · 5 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

A kind of army ant said to devour every living thing in its path

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Any of several large wasps known for their painful stings:

Polistes infuscatus

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Guyana

Examples

  • GE Bodkin (1918), “Notes on some British Guiana Hymenoptera exclusive of the Formicidae”, in Transactions of the Royal Entomological Society of London, volume 1917, Vol. 65: “The local name is marabunta. Destroying marabunta nests with a wad of dried palm leaves attached to a long pole soaked in kerosene and ignited is an interesting operation for an onlooker at a respectful distance”

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

Any of several large wasps known for their painful stings:

a mud dauber or a mason wasp

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Guyana

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

Any of several large wasps known for their painful stings:

Synoeca surinama

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Caribbean

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

Any of several large wasps known for their painful stings:

Polybia occidentalis and other species

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Caribbean

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From the 1954 movie The Naked Jungle, perhaps directly from the other etymology, or from a parallel South American source, though this would apparently have been the first time it was applied to ants.

Uncertain. Perhaps ultimately from Kimbundu marimbondo, plural of rimbondo (“Sceliphron spirifex, a bright yellow and black wasp”), possibly via Portuguese marimbondo. Compare Sranan Tongo marbonsu (“wasp of the genus Polistes”).