termite Definition

any of numerous pale-colored soft-bodied social insects (order Isoptera) that live in colonies consisting usually of winged sexual forms, wingless sterile workers, and soldiers, feed on wood, and include some which are very destructive to wooden structures and trees —called also white ant

a large termite (Coptotermes formosanus of the family Rhinotermitidae) native to Taiwan and southern China that forms very large, usually underground colonies and has been introduced into Hawaii and the southern U.S. where it is a destructive pest of wooden structures —called also Formosan subterranean termite