How to Use silverfish in a Sentence

silverfish

noun
  • Check out our guides to the best mouse traps and how to get rid of silverfish.
    — Amanda Garrity, Good Housekeeping, 12 Mar. 2023
  • The good news is no—silverfish are not at all dangerous to humans.
    — Ashley Chalmers, The Spruce, 17 June 2026
  • As with most insects, traps exist to capture and kill silverfish.
    — Kelly Allen, House Beautiful, 20 July 2021
  • The best first step for stopping silverfish is to remove moisture.
    — Ashley Chalmers, The Spruce, 17 June 2026
  • Be aware that the silverfish will consume anything that is high in sugar, starch or protein.
    — Washington Post, 18 Dec. 2021
  • Some papers have been eaten away by silverfish; others have gotten wet and smudged.
    — Tim Parks, New York Times, 11 May 2016
  • Avoid plastic storage bins, which can trap moisture and increase the risk of mildew and discoloration.
    — Mary Marlowe Leverette, The Spruce, 29 Dec. 2025
  • Moths, silverfish, and carpet beetles thrive in dark, undisturbed places.
    — Nafeesah Allen, Better Homes & Gardens, 9 May 2026
  • Over time, book pages can stick together, and bugs like silverfish may consume paper and glue bindings.
    — Mary Cornetta, Better Homes & Gardens, 29 Nov. 2025
  • But keep in mind that the blame may actually be on other bugs such as silverfish, crickets or beetles.
    — Arkansas Online, 22 Feb. 2021
  • Finding silverfish in your home is never a fun surprise, and like most pests, your goal should be to get rid of them as soon as possible.
    — Samantha Lawyer, Country Living, 8 June 2021
  • Their menu of choice includes ants, silverfish, beetle larvae, spiders, and even roaches.
    — Margeaux Sippell, BostonGlobe.com, 26 June 2018
  • They are sold as small balls, cakes, or flakes used to control clothes moths, silverfish, and other pests that feed on wool and other natural fibers.
    — Karen Brewer Grossman, Southern Living, 1 Jan. 2026
  • Homemade traps are a non-toxic option that can be effective at catching silverfish.
    — Rebecca Straus, Good Housekeeping, 27 July 2016
  • Within a day, cockroaches, ants, fleas, silverfish, and a whole load of other insects will start dropping like flies.
    — Kat De Naoum, Better Homes & Gardens, 11 Apr. 2023
  • These include some species of crickets, butterflies, and silverfish.
    — Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 16 Jan. 2025
  • Elsewhere, bones were stored in plastic and paper bags and totes and boxes, often covered with black mold and silverfish, according to the book.
    — Domenica Bongiovanni, IndyStar, 5 Nov. 2025
  • Not only that, insects, including silverfish, termites, and carpet beetles, to name a few, love to feed on paper.
    — Mary Cornetta, Better Homes & Gardens, 24 Sep. 2024
  • Simply wrap a glass jar in textured tape, like medical tape, and place a bit of cereal or other starch inside the jar to attract the silverfish.
    — Rebecca Straus, Good Housekeeping, 27 July 2016
  • Diatomaceous earth is one way to kill off a silverfish infestation, but is only effective in dry areas.
    — Ashley Chalmers, The Spruce, 17 June 2026
  • Pests, particularly moths and silverfish, lay eggs and nibble on the natural fibers of cashmere.
    — Mary Marlowe Leverette, The Spruce, 29 Dec. 2025
  • The animals venture into the open water to hunt lanternfish, Antarctic silverfish, and squid.
    — Rachel Raposas, PEOPLE, 6 Jan. 2026
  • Even nonhumans, such as bookworms (so called) and silverfish, that lurk around inside them are given consideration.
    — John Glassie, New York Times, 1 June 2018
  • Common arthropod guests included silverfish, cockroaches and mosquitos, and all but two percent of households had some form of lice.
    — Nathaniel Scharping, Discover Magazine, 20 Jan. 2016
  • Other common places to find silverfish are in storage boxes, bookshelves, wallpaper, or under sinks, Young says.
    — Brittany Anas, House Beautiful, 8 June 2023
  • Frequently Asked Questions What attracts silverfish in your house?
    — Sherri Gordon, Health, 7 Sep. 2024
  • These include ants, fleas, crickets, spiders, earwigs, millipedes, silverfish, mites, palmetto bugs, and sow bugs.
    — Kat De Naoum, Better Homes & Gardens, 11 Apr. 2023
  • Pests are never welcome in our homes, but there’s something particularly unsettling about silverfish.
    — Ashley Chalmers, The Spruce, 17 June 2026
  • Today, with nary a silverfish, cockroach, or other uninvited creature in sight, my wife and I revere spiders as our saviors.
    — The New Yorker, New Yorker, 31 Mar. 2025
  • Many of the skeletons were mixed up, their labels faded or eaten by silverfish, and their origins were only traced through century-old correspondence and fading ledgers.
    — David Maurice Smith, Smithsonian, 23 Aug. 2019

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'silverfish.' 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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