gadfly

The libertarian gadfly from Kentucky faces his toughest opponent in the president.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 18, 2026

Fleming, meanwhile, hasn’t had much to spend, and has always been somewhat of a gadfly going back to his years in the House of Representatives.

From Slate ● May 16, 2026

That’s because in Austin, Harrison is viewed as a gadfly, with few legislative victories or allies.

From Salon ● Oct. 16, 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

And the suitors mad with fear at her great sign stampeded like stung cattle by a river when the dread shimmering gadfly strikes in summer, in the flowering season, in the long-drawn days.

From "The Odyssey" by Homer

The Legislature was coming after the gadflies like Gilbert.

From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2025

Exxon Mobil’s action against Arjuna and Follow This opens a new chapter in the long battle between corporate managements and shareholder gadflies.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 14, 2024

And why is the work of maintaining them left to civic gadflies, even after two consecutive New York mayors have pledged to tackle the problem?

From Slate ● Apr. 25, 2023

Working the polls has long been something that retirees did, along with nice church ladies, neighborhood busybodies, local political gadflies and civics geeks.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 8, 2022

It has even happened that animals have been so seriously attacked by gadflies that they have died from loss of blood.

From From Pole to Pole A Book for Young People by Sven Anders Hedin