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What is a gadfly?

What is a gadfly? Here are some definitions.

Noun
  1. Any dipterous insect of the family Oestridae, commonly known as botflies.
  2. A horsefly: any of various species of fly, of the family Tabanidae, noted for buzzing about animals and sucking their blood.
  3. One who upsets the status quo by posing upsetting or novel questions, or attempts to stimulate innovation by proving an irritant.
  4. (pejorative) One who merely irritates without making useful suggestions.
  5. (slang) A bloodsucker
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Examples
When he is in gadfly mode, as in this new study, he entertains and enlightens about writers including Kant and Ruskin.
In a male-dominated culture, she was a woman who read, a writer who meant to publish, and a theological gadfly.
The Grimm Brothers' tiny boy, unseen, tricked and adventured his way through life, a gadfly getting into places nobody else could.
But as critic, scourge, and gadfly he is in the league of Socrates and Voltaire.
But when I said that gadfly included vicious bullying and teen suicide, he changed tack.
Where are the shows about gadfly millionaires who rattle about in drafty mansions, and the mundane decisions we must make ev'ry day?

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