How to Use lightning bug in a Sentence

lightning bug

noun
  • Firefly fans who'd like to see lightning bugs year-round are out of luck.
    — Aliza Chasan, CBS News, 7 June 2024
  • Her own summers as a child were filled with butterflies and lightning bugs.
    — Lauren Lumpkin, Washington Post, 2 July 2023
  • Catching lightning bugs under the late in the day sunset with friends.
    — Rebecca Angel Baer, Southern Living, 3 July 2025
  • Southerners would rather eat a lightning bug than a mushy, mealy tomato.
    — Southern Living, 6 Mar. 2017
  • The little lightning bugs blink in unison while searching for mates.
    — Brandee Gruener, Southern Living, 9 Apr. 2026
  • The title comes from a childhood dream of catching lightning bugs in jars and holding them up for all to see.
    — Jordan Runtagh, PEOPLE.com, 6 Aug. 2019
  • Cades Cove is another great place to see the lightning bugs throughout the warmer months.
    — Stephanie Vermillion, Travel + Leisure, 9 May 2026
  • Sadly, most lightning bugs have bigger problems to worry about.
    — Katherine J. Wu, Smithsonian, 26 June 2018
  • Despite having nothing do with lightning, the science of lightning bugs is just as cool.
    — Kathryn Prociv, Washington Post, 22 June 2018
  • These glowing bugs tend to be called fireflies in the South and lightning bugs in the Midwest.
    — Kathryn Prociv, Washington Post, 22 June 2018
  • Fireflies, known as lightning bugs in the South and Midwest, are neither flies nor bugs.
    — Madeline Bodin, Smithsonian Magazine, 17 May 2023
  • Demand has peaked in recent years to see the lightning bugs — yes, that’s just another name for fireflies — flirt.
    — Rachel Chang, Travel + Leisure, 26 Mar. 2024
  • Like summer nights are to lightning bugs and squeaks are to porch swings, Dolly Parton is to blonde hair.
    — Southern Living, 1 June 2018
  • Like lightning bugs and action movies, Leonardo DiCaprio comes alive in summer.
    — Michelle Ruiz, Vogue, 7 Aug. 2018
  • That’s also a major difference between lightning bugs and lightning.
    — Kathryn Prociv, Washington Post, 22 June 2018
  • Edgerton captures the essence of sorrow like lightning bugs in a jar; his sadness isn’t a dark, overbearing thing, but a source of gentle, mournful light.
    — Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 11 Dec. 2025
  • This makes sense, given that lightning bugs are relatively slow-flying insects that flit about with the equivalent of a neon billboard on their butts.
    — Jason Bittel, Smithsonian, 3 July 2017
  • Some of the lightning bug species most vulnerable to extinction need very specific habitats to survive.
    — Aliza Chasan, CBS News, 1 Oct. 2024
  • In that tape that spring, however, Smith saw some flashes in a 5-foot-10 lightning bug named Michael Bandy.
    — Luca Evans, Denver Post, 16 Dec. 2025
  • Elliott suggests a tulip tree, which will grow up to 50 feet tall and produce yellow flowers that attract pollinators and lightning bugs.
    — Bishop Sand, Washington Post, 6 July 2024
  • This makes measuring the range and abundance of firefly populations challenging even while fears mount that many lightning bug species are on the road to extinction.
    — Joshua Sokol, Quanta Magazine, 20 Sep. 2022
  • The roadside produce stands, the slightly cooler mountain air, and the lightning bugs glowing in open fields provide all the makings of a nostalgic summer trip.
    — Tara Massouleh McCay, Southern Living, 27 June 2026
  • And after the ribs, in the cool of the evening, with the little kids chasing lightning bugs in the backyard, your hosts might bring out some cold, sweet watermelon and a pot of rich, dark coffee.
    — John Kass, chicagotribune.com, 2 July 2019
  • Think your back yard can get buggy in the summer—with mosquitoes, flies, moths, wasps, bees, lightning bugs, crickets, and more swarming, buzzing, and chirping everywhere?
    — Jeffrey Kluger, Time, 29 June 2026
  • In the South, summer is marked by more than a few traditions, like catching lightning bugs in the dark, spending long days at the lake, and sitting under a haint blue porch ceiling.
    — Kaitlyn Yarborough, Southern Living, 23 May 2026
  • The poems furnish an elegant bachelor space, a man cave with soft touches and a long prospect on the past, in which Wright’s memories, like lightning bugs, appear.
    — Dan Chiasson, The New Yorker, 4 Nov. 2019
  • Cooked over a crackling fire, surrounded by pitch pines, lightning bugs and scurrying squirrels, even something simple like a skillet of nachos can go from good to remarkable.
    — The New York Times News Service Syndicate, San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 July 2025
  • Fireflies, aka lightning bugs, are facing a triple extinction threat from habitat loss, artificial light and pesticide use, new research suggests.
    — Ashley Shaffer, USA TODAY, 5 Feb. 2020
  • To borrow a phrase from Mark Twain, the difference between the two renditions is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.
    — Charles P. Pierce, Esquire, 20 Jan. 2017
  • Tulip tree Provide food and housing for urban wildlife — particularly to lightning bugs and pollinators.
    — Bishop Sand, Washington Post, 6 July 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'lightning bug.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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